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Ils ont eu une expérience incroyable.

Ils ont eu une expérience incroyable.
They had an incredible experience.
From Lesson 72:Irregular past participles (eu, été, fait, pris, vu)·French

Questions & Answers about Ils ont eu une expérience incroyable.

Wait, ont eu literally translates to "have had". Why not just use one word for "had"?
In French, the most common past tense (the passé composé) is built using two words: a helper verb (here, ont) and a past participle (here, eu). Even though the main verb is avoir (to have), it still follows this two-word rule. So ils ont eu is the standard way to say "they had".
Where does the word eu come from?
The word eu is the irregular past participle of the verb avoir (to have). Because avoir is used so often, you will see eu all the time in the past tense to mean "had"!
How do I pronounce eu? It looks weird!
Even though it is spelled with an e, you ignore the e completely! The word eu is pronounced exactly like the single French letter u (a tight sound made with pursed lips, exactly like the vowel in the word tu).
Why does incroyable come after expérience instead of before it?
In English, we say "an incredible experience" with the adjective before the noun. In French, most adjectives are placed after the noun they describe. That is why it is written as une expérience incroyable.

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