Past participles of other French verbs

On previous pages, we saw that the perfect tense of -er verbs is formed using a past participle ending in .

For other types of verbs, the past participle is generally formed in a different way.

The form of the past participle generally depends on the ending of the infinitive, as shown in the following table:

Infinitive endingPast participle endingExamples
-ercommencer > commencé
donner > donné
Also:
aller > allé
-ir-ifinir > fini
salir > sali
Also:
dormir > dormi
sortir > sorti
-re-uvendre > vendu
rendre > rendu
avoireu(This verb only.)
êtreété(This verb only.)
-ire-itdire > dit
traduire > traduit
conduire > conduit
suffire > suffit
faire > fait
écrire > écrit
Exception: rire > ri, sourire > souri
-enir-enuvenir > venu; tenir > tenu; plus their derivatives.
-ouvrir-ouvertouvrir > ouvert; couvrir > couvert; Derivatives of these.
-aître-uapparaître > apparu; connaître > connu
-oire-uThese verbs and (rare) derivatives: boire > bu, croire > cru
prendreprisThis verb and its derivatives: reprendre > repris
mettremisThis verb and its derivatives: transmettre > transmis; permettre > permis
naîtreThis verb and its derivative: renaître > rené
vivrevécuThis verb and derivatives:survivre > survécu

Here are some less common endings and verbs:

Infinitive endingPast participle endingExamples
-indre-intpeindre > peint
joindre > joint
atteindre > atteint
battrebatturebattre > rebattu; débattre > débattu
croîtrecrûaccroître > accrû; décroître > décru
vêtirvêtu(This verb and derivatives.)
foutrefoutu(This verb only.)

What to read next

There are occasions when you need to add agreements to the past participle (see below).

When to use avoir and when to use être

See this page for more information on which verbs need avoir and which need être.

When do I add agreements to the past participle (and what are they)?

Click here for more information.


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This page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright © Javamex UK 2017. All rights reserved.