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Level 60 - Perfect Tense (Le Passé Composé) Part 2
The perfect tense is the main past tense we use when we want to talk about what has happened in the past. We have seen how the perfect tense is made - by using the verb avoir 'to have' followed by a past participle. To make the past participle for er verbs we remove the er ending and add é, to make the past participle for re verbs we remove the re ending and add u and to make the past participle for ir verbs we remove the ir ending and add i.
However, there is a list of important verbs which have irregular past participles. That means we cannot simply remove the infinitive ending and add é, u or i accordingly. Instead we have to learn these individually.
Irregular past participles
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VERB
apprendre
to learn
avoir
to have
boire
to drink
comprendre
to understand
conduire
to drive
connaître
to know
construire
to build
contenir
to contain
courir
to run
couvrir
to cover
croire
to believe
découvrir
to discover
décrire
to describe
devenir
to become
devoir
to have to
dire
to say
écrire
to write
être
to be
faire
to do / make
introduire
to introduce
lire
to read
mettre
to put
mourir
to die
naître
to be born
offrir
to offer
ouvrir
to open
paraître
to seem
permettre
to allow
plaire
to please
pleuvoir
to rain
pouvoir
to be able to
prendre
to take
recevoir
to receive
revenir
to come back
revoir
to see again
rire
to laugh
s'asseoir
to sit down
savoir
to know
se taire
to be quiet
se plaindre
to complain
souffrir
to suffer
sourire
to smile
suivre
to follow
tenir
to hold
venir
to come
vivre
to live
voir
to see
vouloir
to want
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IRREGULAR PAST PARTICIPLE
appris
eu
bu
compris
conduit
connu
construit
contenu
couru
couvert
cru
découvert
décrit
devenu*
dû
dit
écrit
été
fait
introduit
lu
mis
mort*
né*
offert
ouvert
paru
permis
plu
plu
pu
pris (all other verbs ending in -prendre work in this way)
reçu
revenu*
revu
ri
assis*
su
tu*
plaint*
souffert
souri
suivi
tenu (all other verbs ending in -tenir work in this way)
venu* (all other verbs ending in -venir work in this way)
vécu
vu
voulu |
* A small list of verbs (as well as all reflexive verbs) use être 'to be' instead of avoir 'to have' to make the perfect tense - see Level 61.
Examples
j'ai appris le français
tu as eu le temps de visiter le musée?
Jacques a bu un verre d'eau
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I learnt French
did you have time to visit the museum?
Jacques drank a glass of water
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