Le participe passé – the past participle in French
- When to use the participe passé
- How to form le participe passé
- Regular verbs
- Irregular verbs and the participe passé
- When does the past participle agree in French?
- Past participle agreement with être
- Past participle agreement with pronominal verbs
- Past participle agreement with avoir
- Online exercises to improve your French
- Lingolia Plus French
What is le participe passé ?
Le participe passé (the past participle) is an impersonal verb form that is mostly used to form compound tenses, such as the passé composé. We can also use past participles as adjectives. We form the past participles of regular verbs by adding an ending to the verb stem, although there are many irregular past participles, which must be learned by heart.
Learn how to form the French past participle and when to use it, then put your knowledge to the test in the online exercises.
When to use the participe passé
We use the French past participle in the following situations:
- To form compound tenses and structures with the auxiliaries avoir and être.
Compound Tense/Mood | Example |
---|---|
Passé composé | Max a marqué un but.Max scored a goal. |
Plus-que-parfait | Max avait marqué un but.Max had scored a goal. |
Futur antérieur | Max aura marqué un but.Max will have scored a goal. |
Passif | Un but est marqué par Max.A goal was scored by Max. |
Conditionnel passé | Max aurait marqué un but.Max would have scored a goal. |
Subjonctif passé | Nous sommes heureux que Max ait marqué un but.We’re happy that Max scored a goal. |
How to form le participe passé
Regular verbs
-er Verbs
To form the past participle of an -er verb, we replace the infinitive ending with -é.
- Examples:
- aimer → aiméto like – liked
- écouter → écoutéto listen – listened
- rester → restéto stay – stayed
- travailler → travailléto work – worked
Note: the irregular verb aller has a regular past participle: allé
-ir Verbs
To form the past participle of an -ir verb, we replace the infinitive ending with -i.
- Examples:
- dormir → dormito sleep – slept
- finir → finito finish – finished
- partir → partito leave – left
- réfléchir → réfléchito reflect – reflected
- sentir → sentito feel – felt
Note: the verbs courirto run, découvrirto discover, offrirto offer, ouvrirto open, souffrirto suffer, tenirto hold and venirto come have irregular past participles.
- Examples:
- courir → couruto run – run
- offrir → offertto offer – offered
-re Verbs
To form the past participle of an -re verb, we replace the infinitive ending with -u.
- Examples:
- attendre → attenduto wait – waited
- répondre → réponduto answer – answered
- vendre → venduto sell – sold
Note: the majority of -re verbs are irregular and thus have irregular past participles.
- Examples:
- connaître → connuto know – known
- écrire → écritto write – written
- prendre → pristo take – taken
Irregular verbs and the participe passé
Many verbs have an irregular past participle form, which must be learned by heart. See below for a list of the most common irregular past participles in French organised by ending, or go to our verb conjugator to look up the past participles of specific verbs.
Participe passé ending in -u
Many irregular verbs form their past participle with the ending -u:
Verb | Past Participle |
---|---|
boireto drink | bu |
connaîtreto know | connu |
courirto run | couru |
croireto believe | cru |
devoirto have to | dû |
falloirbe needed | fallu |
lireto read | lu |
plaireto please | plu |
pleuvoirto rain | plu |
pouvoirto be able to | pu |
recevoirto receive | reçu |
savoirto know | su |
tenirto hold | tenu |
venirto come | venu |
vivreto live | vécu |
voirto see | vu |
vouloirto want | voulu |
Participe passé ending in -is
Several irregular verbs form their past participle with the ending -is:
Verb | Past Participle |
---|---|
apprendreto learn | appris |
asseoirto sit | assis |
comprendreto understand | compris |
mettreto put | mis |
prendreto take | pris |
promettreto promise | promis |
Participe passé ending in -t
Many irregular verbs form their past participle with the ending -t:
Verb | Past Participle |
---|---|
conduireto drive | conduit |
construireto build | construit |
craindreto fear | craint |
direto say | dit |
écrireto write | écrit |
éteindreto extinguish | éteint |
faireto do/make | fait |
joindreto join/add | joint |
peindreto paint | peint |
produireto produce | produit |
traduireto translate | traduit |
Participe passé ending in -ert
Some irregular verbs form their past participle with the ending -ert:
Verb | Past Participle |
---|---|
découvrirto discover | découvert |
offrirto offer | offert |
ouvrirto open | ouvert |
souffrirto suffer | souffert |
Participe passé ending in -i
Two irregular verbs (and their related forms) form their past participle with the ending -i:
Verb | Past Participle |
---|---|
rire (sourire, etc.)to laugh, smile, etc. | ri |
suivre (poursuivre, etc.)to follow, chase, etc. | suivi |
Other irregular verbs
There are four verbs that have completely irregular past participle forms:
Verb | Past Participle |
---|---|
avoirto have | eu |
êtreto be | été |
mourirto die | mort |
naîtreto be born | né |
When does the past participle agree in French?
There are some cases when the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject or object of the sentence. The past participle agrees as follows:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Masculine | Participe passé | Participe passé + s |
Feminine | Participe passé + e | Participe passé + es |
Generally, the past participle agrees when it is conjugated with être and stays the same when it is conjugated with avoir. However, there are some important exceptions we need to look out for.
Past participle agreement with être
When the past participle appears with the auxiliary être in a compound tense, it must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.
- Examples:
- Max est rentré à la maison.Max went home.
- Sa sœur est rentrée à la maison.His sister went home.
- singular feminine noun: past participle + e
- Les joueurs sont rentrés à la maison.The players went home.
- plural masculine noun: past participle + s
- Les joueuses sont rentrées à la maison.The (female) players went home.
- plural feminine noun: past participle + es
Past participle agreement with pronominal verbs
All pronominal verbs are conjugated with être in compound tenses. In most cases, the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.
- Example:
- Elle s’est lavée.She had a wash.
- The past participle agrees because the subject and the object are the same (elle); literally: she washes herself.
- Ils se sont mariés en mai.They got married in May.
- The past participle agrees because the subject and the object are the same (ils). The verb is reciprocal; literally: they married each other.
However, the past participle does not agree with the subject of the sentence when the pronominal verb is followed by a direct object or another verb.
- Example:
- Elle s’est lavé les mains.She washed her hands.
- The past participle stays the same because the subject (elle) and the object (les mains) are different.
Likewise, the past participle does not agree with an indirect object. This means that it remains the same when used with the following verbs: se téléphoner, se parler, se mentir, se plaire (complaire/déplaire), se sourire, se rire, se nuire, se succéder, se suffire, se ressembler, s’en vouloir.
- Example:
- Marie et Laurent se sont téléphoné. (téléphoner à)
- se = indirect object
Past participle agreement with avoir
When the past participle is used with avoir in the compound tenses, it never agrees with the subject of a sentence in gender or number. However, the past participle with avoir agrees with a direct object that comes before the verb.
- Examples:
- Max a marqué un but. → Max l’a marqué.Max scored a goal. → Max scored it.
- Max a marqué deux buts. → Max les a marqués.Max scored two goals. → Max scored them.
This happens when the direct object is a pronoun (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les) or when the direct object is followed by a relative clause with que.
- Examples:
- Max les a marqués.Max scored them. (direct object pronoun)
- C’est la maison que nous avons achetée.This is the house that we bought. (relative clause with que)