Grammar: Irregular Past Participles

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
devoirto have to
direditto say
écrireécritto write
êtreététo be
fairefaitto do
joindrejointto reach
lireluto read
mettremisto putadmettre, démettre, émettre, permettre, promettre, remettre
mourirmortto die
mouvoirto moveémouvoir, promouvoir
naîtreto 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

Don’t miss out on new posts – subscribe now!

Don’t miss new articles!

Get 1 email a week with new articles about French

We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy

Similar Posts

  • Verb: bouillir

    The French verb “bouillir” means “to boil.” It is conjugated irregularly in the Present tense. So it must be memorised. Present tense It is only the Present tense of bouillir that is irregular. So this is the only part you need to memorise. Passé composé In the Passé composé, “bouillir” is conjugated with “avoir,” like…

  • vouloir

    The French verb “vouloir” is a very important and frequently used verb. It means “to want.” It is often used with other verbs, eg “to want to do.” As such, it is described as an auxiliary verb, or helper verb, because it is useful when combined with other French verbs. Below are the conjugations for…

  • Verb: manquer à

    The French verb “manquer à” means “to miss (someone)” “Manquer” is a regular “-er” verb. In fact it has several meanings, but one of its main meanings is to miss someone, in the sense of wishing that they were here. In this construction, it is used with either “à” or a indirect object pronoun. Examples…

  • | | |

    verb: s’attendre à

    The French verb “s’attendre à” means “to expect” or “to anticipate.” “S’attendre à” vs. “Attendre” The primary difference between “s’attendre à” and “attendre” is that “s’attendre à” is reflexive (or “pronominal” as we say in French) and “attendre” is not. While “attendre” means “to wait for” or “to await,” “s’attendre à” means “to expect” or…

  • verb: suivre

    I. Meanings of “Suivre” 1. To Follow:The most common usage of “suivre” is to indicate following someone or something. For example: 2. To Follow a Course:“Suivre” can also be used to describe tracking or taking a course of action, such as following a recipe or a study program: 3. To Keep Up With:In contexts involving…

  • savoir

    The French verb “savoir” is a frequently used verb. It means “to know.” It is different from the verb “connaître,” which means “to know” in the sense of “to be familiar with.” “Savoir” is more like “to know how” (to do something). “Savoir” is an irregular verb, which means it doesn’t follow the usual rules for…