I can talk about the past with the most common verbs: remember fifteen irregular past participles and put them after avoir in statements, negative sentences, and questions.
Past participles to learn by heart
Past participles to learn by heart
Without the fifteen verbs of this lesson you can say almost nothing about the past: “did”, “took”, “saw”, “said”. The form is the same — avoir in the present tense plus the past participle. Only the past participle is new: you can't work it out from the infinitive, and English took, did, saw are no guide either, so you learn it.
The first group ends in u: avoir → eu, voir → vu, lire → lu, boire → bu, pouvoir → pu, vouloir → voulu, devoir → dû, savoir → su.
The second group has special past participles: prendre → pris, mettre → mis, dire → dit, écrire → écrit, faire → fait, être → été (it ends in -é like regular verbs, but you learn it by heart too), ouvrir → ouvert. Both groups are in the tables.
The negative and the question work as in the last lesson: Je n'ai pas vu Chloé. Est-ce que tu as lu le message ?
From this lesson on, the word list gives each verb with its past participle: “prendre (pris)”. Learn the form in parentheses with the verb.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Nous avons prendu le bus” — Nous avons pris le bus.
• NOT “Il a faisé les courses” — Il a fait les courses.
• NOT “J'ai fais les courses” — J'ai fait les courses: after avoir, fait ends in -t.
• NOT “Vous avez écrivé votre nom” — Vous avez écrit votre nom.
• NOT “Elle a metté ses clés sur la table” — Elle a mis ses clés sur la table.
Past participles in -u: eight verbs
These forms can't be worked out from the infinitive — you learn them by heart.
| Infinitive | Past participle |
|---|---|
| avoir | eu |
| voir | vu |
| lire | lu |
| boire | bu |
| pouvoir | pu |
| vouloir | voulu |
| devoir | dû |
| savoir | su |
Past participles with special endings: seven verbs
The second group, by heart: the end of the past participle isn't always heard, but it's always written.
| Infinitive | Past participle |
|---|---|
| prendre | pris |
| mettre | mis |
| dire | dit |
| écrire | écrit |
| faire | fait |
| être | été |
| ouvrir | ouvert |
Lesson notes
Past participles to learn by heart
Without the fifteen verbs of this lesson you can say almost nothing about the past: “did”, “took”, “saw”, “said”. The form is the same — avoir in the present tense plus the past participle. Only the past participle is new: you can't work it out from the infinitive, and English took, did, saw are no guide either, so you learn it.
The first group ends in u: avoir → eu, voir → vu, lire → lu, boire → bu, pouvoir → pu, vouloir → voulu, devoir → dû, savoir → su.
The second group has special past participles: prendre → pris, mettre → mis, dire → dit, écrire → écrit, faire → fait, être → été (it ends in -é like regular verbs, but you learn it by heart too), ouvrir → ouvert. Both groups are in the tables.
The negative and the question work as in the last lesson: Je n'ai pas vu Chloé. Est-ce que tu as lu le message ?
From this lesson on, the word list gives each verb with its past participle: “prendre (pris)”. Learn the form in parentheses with the verb.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Nous avons prendu le bus” — Nous avons pris le bus.
• NOT “Il a faisé les courses” — Il a fait les courses.
• NOT “J'ai fais les courses” — J'ai fait les courses: after avoir, fait ends in -t.
• NOT “Vous avez écrivé votre nom” — Vous avez écrit votre nom.
• NOT “Elle a metté ses clés sur la table” — Elle a mis ses clés sur la table.