French/Grammar/Verbs/Past participle

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Usage

This is added after an auxiliary verb for many past tenses, including passé composé.

Formation

• For a regular -er verb, the past participle is determined by replacing the -er with é.
• For a regular -ir verb, the past participle is determined by removing the final r.
• For a regular -re verb, the past participle is determined by replacing the -re with u.
• Irregular verbs have irregular past participles, as shown by the table.
• For verbs with the auxiliary verb être, the past participle must agree with the subject. For verbs with the auxiliary avoir, the participle never agree with the subject, but with a possible direct complement, if it is written before the verb. For example, in the sentence il les a eus, the participle eus agree with the direct complement les, because it's written before the verb, but in the sentence il a eu les facture, the participle eu does not agree with les factures.

The table below shows additions to the normal past participle that must be made based on the gender and number of the subject.

Irregular past participles
Verb	Past participle
atteindre	atteint
avoir	eu
boire	bu
conduire	conduit
connaître	connu
construire	construit
courir	couru
couvrir	couvert
craindre	craint
croire	cru
devoir	dû
dire	dit
écrire	écrit
être	été
faire	fait
falloir	fallu
instruire	instruit
joindre	joint
lire	lu
mettre	mis
mourir	mort
offrir	offert
ouvrir	ouvert
naître	né
paraître	paru
peindre	peint
pleuvoir	plu
pouvoir	pu
prendre	pris
produire	produit
recevoir	reçu
savoir	su
souffrir	souffert
suivre	suivi
tenir	tenu
venir	venu
vivre	vécu
voir	vu
vouloir	voulu

Past participle agreement
Gender	Number	Add
masculine	singular	-
masculine	plural	-s
feminine	singular	-e
feminine	plural	-es

Tenses and moods

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