Irregular past participles
While regular verbs follow predictable patterns to form their past participles, some of the most common verbs in French are irregular. You simply have to memorize them!
Let's learn five high-frequency irregular past participles so you can start recounting past experiences.
Avoir and Être
The verbs avoir (to have) and être (to be) are not only helping verbs, but they are also used as main verbs to describe what you had or how things were.
The past participle of avoir is eu (had). Notice it uses the helping verb avoir in the passé composé.
| They had an incredible experience. | Ils ont eu une expérience incroyable. |
| Have you had the time recently? | Est-ce que tu as eu le temps récemment ? |
The past participle of être is été (was/been). Surprisingly, être also uses the helping verb avoir to form the passé composé!
| The trip was wonderful. | Le voyage a été formidable. |
| The exam was terrible for them. | L'examen a été terrible pour eux. |
Faire and Prendre
The past participle of faire (to do/make) is fait (did/made).
| We made a great effort. | Nous avons fait un grand effort. |
The past participle of prendre (to take) is pris (took). Just like in English, you will use it for expressions like taking a risk or making a decision.
| I took an incredible risk. | J'ai pris un risque incroyable. |
| They made a wonderful decision. | Elles ont pris une décision formidable. |
Voir
The past participle of voir (to see) is vu (saw/seen).
| I saw a beautiful landscape. | J'ai vu un beau paysage. |
| Did you see this weird movie? | Est-ce que tu as vu ce film bizarre ? |
Telling a story
Because these five irregular verbs are so common, you will often use them together to share memories and recount events. You can easily connect your thoughts using et (and).
| You made a choice and you took a risk. | Vous avez fait un choix et vous avez pris un risque. |
| The trip was incredible and we saw a bizarre landscape. | Le voyage a été incroyable et nous avons vu un paysage bizarre. |
