French Past Participle: Participe Passé

Introduction to the French Past Participle

Louvre at night
Fatigué, je suis rentré à minuit." (Tired, I went home at midnight.).

Chesnot/Getty Images

The past participle, called le participe passé in French, is very similar in French and English. The French past participle usually ends in , -i, or -u, while its English equivalent usually ends in -ed or -en. The past participle has three main uses in French:
 

1. With an auxiliary verb, the past participle forms compound tenses such as the passé composé:

J'ai travaillé hier. I worked yesterday.
Il est arrivé à midi. He arrived at noon.

2. With être, the past participle is used to conjugate the French passive voice.

Le ménage est fait tous les jours. The housework is done every day.
Ce film sera suivi d'une discussion. This movie will be followed by a discussion.


3. Standing alone or with être, the French past participle may be an adjective. Note that in some instances, the participe passé must be translated by the English present participle.

Fatigué, je suis rentré à minuit.

Tired, I went home at midnight.

Le garçon déçu a pleuré.

The disappointed boy cried.

Le chien assis sur le canapé est mignon.

The dog sitting (seated) on the couch is cute.

Je ne vois pas d'homme agenouillé.

I don't see a kneeling man.

Ce livre est écrit en espagnol.

This book is written in Spanish.

Sais-tu si le débat est terminé ?

Do you know if the debate is finished?

Note:

When used in the passive voice or as an adjective, the past participle needs to agree in gender and number with the word it modifies, following the normal rules of adjective agreement. In the compound tenses, it may or may not need to agree, depending on certain factors.

La voiture est lavée par mon fils. The car is washed by my son.
Les solutions proposées sont parfaites. The proposed solutions are perfect.
Elles sont allées à la banque. They went to the bank.
Où est Lise ? Je l'ai vue ce matin. Where is Lise? I saw her this morning.

The past participle of regular verbs is formed by dropping the infinitive ending of a verb and adding éi, or u to -er, -ir, and -re verbs, respectively:

-ER verbs

  • Verb   parler (to talk)
  • Remove   er
  • Add   é
  • Past participle   parlé (talked)

-IR verbs

  • Verb   réussir (to succeed)
  • Remove   ir
  • Add   i
  • Past participle   réussi (succeeded)

-RE verbs

  • ​Verb   vendre (to sell)
  • Remove   re
  • Add   u
  • Past participle   vendu (sold)


Most irregular French verbs have irregular past participles:

acquérir > acquis
apprendre > appris
atteindre > atteint
avoir > eu
boire > bu comprendre > compris
conduire > conduit
connaître > connu
construire > construit
courir > couru
couvrir > couvert
craindre > craint
croire > cru
décevoir > déçu
découvrir > découvert
devoir >
dire > dit
écrire > écrit
être > été
faire > fait instruire > instruit joindre > joint
lire > lu mettre > mis
mourir > mort
offrir > offert
ouvrir > ouvert
naître >
paraître > paru
peindre > peint
pouvoir > pu
prendre > pris
produire > produit
recevoir > reçu savoir > su
souffrir > souffert
suivre > suivi
tenir > tenu
venir > venu
vivre > vécu
voir > vu
vouloir > voulu
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Team, ThoughtCo. "French Past Participle: Participe Passé." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/french-past-participle-1368899. Team, ThoughtCo. (2023, April 5). French Past Participle: Participe Passé. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-past-participle-1368899 Team, ThoughtCo. "French Past Participle: Participe Passé." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-past-participle-1368899 (accessed March 29, 2024).