Grammar: Irregular Past Participles

ByFast French

If you want to use the Passé Composé verb tense in French, you will need to know four things:

  1. Present tenses of avoir and être verbs
  2. Regular past participles (see this blog post here)
  3. Whether a verb is conjugated with avoir or être in the Passé Composé (see this different blog post here)
  4. Any irregular past participles of certain verbs (the post you’re reading now)

The table below contains a list of French verbs with irregular past participles, along with similar verbs whose past participles are constructed in a similar way. Eg, just as the past participle of venir is venu, so too the past participle of devenir is devenu.

VERBPAST PARTICIPLEMEANINGSIMILAR VERBS
acquériracquisto acquire
atteindreatteintto reachéteindre, déteindre, reteindre, enceindre, ceindre
avoireuto have
boirebuto drink
conduireconduitto driveconstruire, déduire, induire, instruire, produire, réduire
connaîtreconnuto know
courircouruto runaccourir, encourir, parcourir, recourir,
craindrecraintto fear
croirecruto believe
devoirdûto have to
direditto say
écrireécritto write
êtreététo be
fairefaitto do
joindrejointto reach
lireluto read
mettremisto putadmettre, démettre, émettre, permettre, promettre, remettre
mourirmortto die
mouvoirmûto moveémouvoir, promouvoir
naîtrenéto be born
offriroffertto offersouffrir
ouvrirouvertto opencouvrir, découvrir, rouvrir
paraîtreparuto appearapparaître, disparaître
peindrepeintto paintdépeindre, repeindre,
pouvoirputo be able
prendrepristo takeapprendre, comprendre, déprendre, éprendre, méprendre, reprendre, surprendre
recevoirreçuto receiveapercevoir, décevoir, percevoir
savoirsuto know
suivresuivito followpoursuivre, s’ensuivre
venirvenuto cometenir, convenir, devenir, parvenir, revenir, survenir, se souvenir
vivrevécuto liverevivre, survivre
voirvuto seeprévoir, pourvoir, revoir
vouloirvouluto wantfalloir, valoir

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