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French Conjugation

Passé Composé: High-Yield Irregular Participles (Avoir)

Essential irregular past participles used with avoir, including fait, eu, pu, voulu, dû, vu, lu, écrit, pris, and others.

Level A2 Category Conjugation

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Lesson Summary

Essential irregular past participles used with avoir, including fait, eu, pu, voulu, dû, vu, lu, écrit, pris, and others.

Conjugation

Irregular Past Participles with Avoir

The regular past participles (-é, -i, -u) are presented in the passé composé with regular avoir verbs. Many of the most frequent French verbs, however, have irregular past participles that must be memorised. This lesson provides the essential inventory of these forms, all of which are used with the auxiliary avoir.

Essential Irregular Past Participles (Avoir)

Infinitive	Past Participle	Example
faire	fait	J'ai fait mes valises.
avoir	eu	Il a eu un problème.
être	été (used with avoir in impersonal expressions)	Il a été malade.
pouvoir	pu	Tu as pu dormir ?
vouloir	voulu	Elle a voulu partir.
devoir	dû (feminine due, plural dus, dues)	Nous avons dû attendre.
savoir	su	J'ai su la réponse.
voir	vu	Vous avez vu l'annonce ?
lire	lu	Je l'ai lu ce matin.
écrire	écrit	Elle a écrit une carte postale.
mettre	mis	J'ai mis le billet dans mon sac.
prendre	pris	Nous avons pris le bus.
comprendre	compris	Tu as compris ?
apprendre	appris	Elle a appris l'espagnol.
dire	dit	Qu'est-ce que tu as dit ?

Usage Notes

All the verbs in the table form the passé composé with avoir. The verb être can also appear with avoir in impersonal constructions such as Il a été malade (He has been ill), though its standard auxiliary is être (see the lesson on être in the passé composé, to be studied later).

The past participle dû is the only one in this list that carries a circumflex accent in the masculine singular; the feminine and plural forms follow the regular agreement rules: due, dus, dues.

Pattern Practice

The following paradigm illustrates the conjugation sequence: J'ai fait, tu as dit, il a vu, nous avons pris, vous avez écrit, ils ont appris. Regular oral repetition of these forms, combined with the vocabulary of travel and daily life, accelerates memorisation.

Examples

J'ai pris le train de 7h et j'ai lu un livre.
Pris (from prendre) and lu (from lire) are both irregular past participles.
Nous avons voulu visiter le musée, mais il a été fermé.
Voulu (from vouloir) and été (from être, used here with avoir).

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These are the main phrases this lesson covers:

Passé Composé: High-Yield Irregular Participles (Avoir)Essential irregular past participles used with avoir, including fait, eu, pu, voulu, dû, vu, lu, écrit, pris, and others.Form the passé composé of high-frequency irregular verbs by pairing the present tense of avoir with the correct irregular past participle.ConjugationA2conjugationLearn French ConjugationFrench ConjugationIrregular Past Participles with AvoirThe regular past participles (-é, -i, -u) are presented in the passé composé with regular avoir verbs. Many of the most frequent French verbs, however, have irregular past participles that must be memorised. This lesson provides the essential inventory of these forms, all of which are used with the auxiliary avoir.