Irregular Past Participles in French

Overview

While regular French verbs form their past participles with predictable endings (-é, -i, -u), many of the most common and useful verbs have irregular past participles that must be memorized individually. These are the verbs you will use daily — doing, being, having, taking, seeing, saying — and their past participles do not follow the standard patterns.

At the A2 level, learning these irregular forms is essential because you cannot avoid them. They appear in the passé composé, the pluperfect, the passive voice, and many compound structures. The good news is that while there are many irregular participles, they tend to fall into recognizable groups, which makes memorization easier.

Think of irregular past participles as vocabulary items rather than grammar rules. Just as you memorize that "went" is the past tense of "go" in English, you need to memorize that fait is the past participle of faire (to do/make) and vu is the past participle of voir (to see).

How It Works

Most common irregular past participles:

Infinitive	Meaning	Past Participle
être	to be	été
avoir	to have	eu
faire	to do/make	fait
dire	to say/tell	dit
écrire	to write	écrit
prendre	to take	pris
mettre	to put	mis
voir	to see	vu
lire	to read	lu
boire	to drink	bu
connaître	to know	connu
vouloir	to want	voulu
pouvoir	to be able	pu
savoir	to know	su
devoir	to have to	dû
venir	to come	venu
ouvrir	to open	ouvert
offrir	to offer	offert
mourir	to die	mort
naître	to be born	né

Pattern groups:

Pattern	Verbs	Participle ending
-it	dire, écrire, conduire	dit, écrit, conduit
-is	prendre, mettre, apprendre	pris, mis, appris
-u	voir, lire, boire, connaître, vouloir, pouvoir, savoir, devoir	vu, lu, bu, connu, voulu, pu, su, dû
-ert	ouvrir, offrir, couvrir, découvrir	ouvert, offert, couvert, découvert
-t	faire	fait

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
J'ai fait mes devoirs.	I did my homework.	faire → fait
Elle a pris le train.	She took the train.	prendre → pris
Nous avons vu le film.	We saw the film.	voir → vu
Il a dit la vérité.	He told the truth.	dire → dit
Tu as lu ce livre?	Have you read this book?	lire → lu
J'ai bu un café.	I drank a coffee.	boire → bu
Elle a écrit une lettre.	She wrote a letter.	écrire → écrit
Il a mis son manteau.	He put on his coat.	mettre → mis
Nous avons eu de la chance.	We were lucky.	avoir → eu
J'ai été surpris.	I was surprised.	être → été
Tu as ouvert la fenêtre?	Did you open the window?	ouvrir → ouvert
Elle a voulu partir.	She wanted to leave.	vouloir → voulu
Il n'a rien pu faire.	He couldn't do anything.	pouvoir → pu

Common Mistakes

Using regular endings for irregular verbs

• Wrong: J'ai faisé, j'ai prené, j'ai voiré
• Right: J'ai fait, j'ai pris, j'ai vu
• Why: These verbs do not follow the regular -é/-i/-u patterns. Their past participles must be memorized.

Confusing similar-looking participles

• Wrong: J'ai mi mon manteau. or J'ai mettré mon manteau.
• Right: J'ai mis mon manteau.
• Why: Mettre → mis (not mi, met, or any other form). Each irregular verb has its own specific past participle.

Forgetting that compound verbs share the same irregular participle

• Wrong: J'ai comprendé la leçon.
• Right: J'ai compris la leçon.
• Why: Comprendre is built on prendre (pris), so its participle follows the same pattern: compris. Similarly, apprendre → appris, surprendre → surpris.

Usage Notes

Irregular past participles are not limited to the passé composé. You will encounter them in many other contexts:

• Pluperfect: J'avais vu (I had seen)
• Passive voice: La lettre a été écrite (The letter was written)
• As adjectives: une porte ouverte (an open door), un livre lu (a read book)

Recognizing these forms across different structures will greatly improve your reading comprehension and listening skills.

Practice Tips

1. Create flashcards with the infinitive on one side and the past participle on the other. Focus on the most common 15-20 irregular verbs first — they cover the vast majority of what you need.
2. Group verbs by their participle pattern (-u group, -is group, -it group, -ert group) and study each group together. The patterns make memorization much easier.
3. Write a short paragraph about your day using as many irregular past participles as possible: Aujourd'hui, j'ai fait du sport, j'ai lu un article, j'ai bu un thé, j'ai écrit un email, puis j'ai vu mes amis.

Related Concepts

• Passé Composé — the tense where these past participles are most commonly used