French Topic
Past Participles
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Study focus - 3 things
- Regular -er, -ir, and -re verbs form past participles in predictable ways
- Some common verbs have irregular past participles that must be memorised
- The past participle comes after the auxiliary verb
Section 1Regular -er verbs
For regular -er verbs, remove -er and add -é. Parler becomes parlé, regarder becomes regardé, and visiter becomes visité. Here's the trick: most beginner verbs are -er, so this pattern appears a lot.
Section 2Regular -ir verbs
For regular -ir verbs, remove -ir and add -i. Finir becomes fini and choisir becomes choisi. Example: j'ai fini means I finished.
Section 3Regular -re verbs
For regular -re verbs, remove -re and add -u. Vendre becomes vendu and attendre becomes attendu. Watch out: the ending is -u, not -é.
Section 4Irregular past participles
Some verbs do not follow the regular patterns. Common examples include avoir -> eu, être -> été, faire -> fait, prendre -> pris, voir -> vu, mettre -> mis, and écrire -> écrit. These need repetition, not guessing.
Examples
Form the passé composé: je + finir.
Finir is regular -ir, so the past participle is fini. The answer is j'ai fini.
Translate: We sold mangoes at the market.
Vendre is regular -re, so vendu is the past participle. The answer is Nous avons vendu des mangues au marché.
Now let's water it
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