You have already mastered the passé composé with regular -er verbs — today you are going to expand your past-tense toolkit with irregular past participles. These are the forms you simply have to know by heart: lu (read), vu (seen), bu (drunk), eu (had), pris (taken), fait (done/made). The good news is that once you recognise them, they appear everywhere in everyday French. Camille and Lucas are in a Parisian tea salon catching up on last month's reading, films, and adventures.
Learning tips
- Irregular past participles come in clear groups. Verbs ending in -u in the past: boire → bu, avoir → eu, lire → lu, voir → vu. Verbs ending in -is or -it: prendre → pris, mettre → mis, écrire → écrit. And the stand-alone: faire → fait. Learn them by group, not one by one.
- The verb 'avoir' appears twice in the passé composé of 'avoir': j'ai eu means 'I had'. It looks strange at first but is extremely common — practise it as a chunk: j'ai eu une bonne idée (I had a good idea).
- Notice that 'j'ai été' (from être) also uses avoir as the auxiliary — this is one of the exceptions. 'J'ai été très occupé(e)' means 'I was very busy' in the past.
- Use 'le mois dernier' (last month) the same way you use 'hier' and 'la semaine dernière' — it goes at the start or end of the sentence to set the time frame.
Warm-up & Active Recall
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| hier | yesterday |
| hier soir | last night / yesterday evening |
| la semaine dernière | last week |
| j'ai mangé | I ate / I have eaten |
| j'ai visité | I visited / I have visited |
| j'ai acheté | I bought / I have bought |
| j'ai parlé | I spoke / I have spoken |
| j'ai regardé | I watched / I have watched |
| j'ai travaillé | I worked / I have worked |
| j'ai écouté | I listened / I have listened |
Dialog
Camille and Lucas are having tea in a Parisian salon de thé. They share what they did last month: books they read, films they saw, walks they took, and ideas they had. The dialog is full of irregular past participles — pay close attention to the forms j'ai lu, j'ai vu, j'ai pris, j'ai fait, j'ai bu, j'ai eu, j'ai été, and j'ai fini.
Vocabulary
Active words
| Word | IPA | Translation | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| j'ai fini | /ʒe fi.ni/ | I finished / I have finished | Passé composé of 'finir' (-ir verb). Past participle: fini. Regular -ir → -i pattern. |
| j'ai choisi | /ʒe ʃwa.zi/ | I chose / I have chosen | Passé composé of 'choisir' (-ir verb). Past participle: choisi. Regular -ir → -i pattern. |
| j'ai lu | /ʒe ly/ | I read / I have read | Passé composé of 'lire' (irregular). Past participle: lu. The verb 'lire' has no -er ending, so it is irregular. |
| j'ai vu | /ʒe vy/ | I saw / I have seen | Passé composé of 'voir' (irregular). Past participle: vu. Very common — 'j'ai vu' appears constantly in conversation. |
| j'ai pris | /ʒe pʁi/ | I took / I have taken | Passé composé of 'prendre' (irregular). Past participle: pris. Used for taking transport, food, or objects. |
| j'ai fait | /ʒe fɛ/ | I did / I made / I have done | Passé composé of 'faire' (irregular). Past participle: fait. Extremely versatile — j'ai fait une promenade (I went for a walk), j'ai fait la cuisine (I cooked). |
| j'ai bu | /ʒe by/ | I drank / I have drunk | Passé composé of 'boire' (irregular). Past participle: bu. 'J'ai bu un café' = I had/drank a coffee. |
| j'ai eu | /ʒe y/ | I had / I have had | Passé composé of 'avoir' (irregular). Past participle: eu (pronounced /y/). Very common: j'ai eu une idée, j'ai eu de la chance. |
| j'ai été | /ʒe e.te/ | I was / I have been | Passé composé of 'être' (irregular). Past participle: été (pronounced /e.te/). Note: despite using 'avoir' as auxiliary, not 'être'. |
| le mois dernier | /lə mwa dɛʁ.nje/ | last month | Time expression. 'Le mois dernier' always follows the noun. Compare: hier (yesterday), la semaine dernière (last week), le mois dernier (last month), l'année dernière (last year). |
Passive words
| Word | IPA | Translation | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| j'ai compris | /ʒe kɔ̃.pʁi/ | ||
| j'ai appris | /ʒe a.pʁi/ | ||
| j'ai écrit | /ʒe e.kʁi/ | ||
| j'ai dit | /ʒe di/ | ||
| j'ai mis | /ʒe mi/ | ||
| j'ai voulu | /ʒe vu.ly/ |
Useful chunks
| Word | Translation |
|---|---|
| le mois dernier j'ai... | last month I... |
| j'ai lu un livre | I read a book |
| qu'est-ce que tu as fait ? | what did you do? |
Grammar: Past participle formation — regular: -ir → -i (fini, choisi), irregular: -u (lu, vu, bu, eu), -is (pris, mis), -it (écrit, dit), -ait (fait)
| Infinitif | Participe passé | Exemple |
|---|---|---|
| finir | fini | J'ai fini le livre. |
| choisir | choisi | Tu as choisi un film ? |
| lire | lu | Il a lu un roman. |
| voir | vu | Elle a vu un film. |
| boire | bu | On a bu du café. |
| avoir | eu | J'ai eu une bonne idée. |
| prendre | pris | Tu as pris le vélo ? |
| mettre | mis | Il a mis son manteau. |
| écrire | écrit | Elle a écrit une lettre. |
| faire | fait | Nous avons fait une promenade. |
So far you have learned the passé composé with regular -er verbs, where the past participle always ends in -é. But many of the most common French verbs are irregular and have past participles you need to memorise. Here are the main patterns. Regular -ir verbs follow the rule -ir → -i: finir → fini, choisir → choisi. Irregular verbs with past participles ending in -u: lire → lu, voir → vu, boire → bu, avoir → eu. Irregular verbs with past participles ending in -is: prendre → pris, mettre → mis. Irregular verbs with past participles ending in -it: écrire → écrit, dire → dit. And the stand-alone: faire → fait. The auxiliary verb is still 'avoir' for all of these: j'ai fini, j'ai lu, j'ai vu, j'ai pris, j'ai fait, j'ai bu, j'ai eu, j'ai été. Even though 'être' has an -é ending (été), it uses 'avoir' as its auxiliary — j'ai été — not 'être'. The best way to learn irregular participles is to use them in short, memorable sentences: j'ai lu un roman (I read a novel), j'ai vu un film (I saw a film), j'ai pris le bus (I took the bus), j'ai fait une promenade (I went for a walk). Each sentence anchors the form in context.
Exercises
Fill in the Blanks
Complete each sentence with the correct past participle. The infinitive is given as a clue.
- Le mois dernier, j'ai un roman de Victor Hugo. (lu)(lire → past participle is not 'lisé'!)
- Elle a son travail avant midi. (fini)(finir → regular -ir verb)
- Nous avons une grande promenade dimanche. (fait)(faire → irregular, ends in -ait)
- Tu as ce film au cinéma ? (vu)(voir → irregular, ends in -u)
- Il a le train de sept heures. (pris)(prendre → irregular, ends in -is)
Grammar Application
Give the correct past participle for each infinitive, then put the last two verbs into the passé composé.
- Donnez le participe passé : boire → (boire → the participle is a single vowel sound)
- Donnez le participe passé : avoir → (avoir → the participle sounds like the French 'u')
- Donnez le participe passé : choisir → (choisir → regular -ir verb)
- Je finis le rapport. → J' le rapport. (passé composé)(finir → j'ai + participle)
- Elle prend un café. → Elle un café. (passé composé)(prendre → elle a + participle)
Translate into French
Translate each sentence into French using the passé composé with the correct irregular past participle.
- Last month I read an excellent novel.
- She finished her work yesterday.
- We saw a film last week.
- Did you take the bus this morning?
- He had a good idea.
Build Your Own Sentence
Write your own French sentence in the passé composé using at least one irregular past participle from today's lesson.
Takeaway
Irregular past participles come in groups — -u (lu, vu, bu, eu), -is (pris, mis), -it (écrit, dit), and fait — so learn them as a family, not one by one.