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J'ai fait un effort et j'ai eu une expérience formidable.

J'ai fait un effort et j'ai eu une expérience formidable.
I made an effort and I had a wonderful experience.
From Lesson 72:Irregular past participles (eu, été, fait, pris, vu)·French

Questions & Answers about J'ai fait un effort et j'ai eu une expérience formidable.

Where do the words fait and eu come from?
These are the irregular past participles for the verbs faire (to do/make) and avoir (to have). In the passé composé (the past tense), you combine a helper verb with a past participle. Here, you use ai (I have) + fait (made) to make j'ai fait, and ai (I have) + eu (had) to make j'ai eu.
How do you pronounce eu? It looks like it should be two syllables!
It is just one short syllable! The "e" is silent, so it sounds exactly like the French letter U (a tight "ew" sound made with rounded lips).
The English translation says "I had", but doesn't j'ai eu literally mean "I have had"?
Literally, yes! French uses the passé composé tense to talk about most completed past actions. While English often uses a single word for the past ("I had", "I made"), French uses this two-part tense. So j'ai eu translates perfectly to "I had" and j'ai fait translates to "I made".
Does formidable mean "scary" or "intimidating" like it does in English?
No, this is a classic false friend! In French, formidable is a very positive word that means "wonderful," "great," or "fantastic." Notice that it comes directly after the noun it describes (une expérience), which is the normal pattern for most French adjectives.

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