French Grammar in Context

1 -it

dire > dit

écrire > écrit

faire > fait

2 -is

asseoir > assis

mettre > mis

prendre > pris

acquérir > acquis

3 -i

rire > ri

suivre > suivi

suffire > suffi

nuire > nui

4 -u

-voir avoir > eu

recevoir > reçu

devoir > dû

pleuvoir > plu

pouvoir > pu

savoir > su

voir > vu

-loir falloir > fallu

valoir > valu

vouloir > voulu

-re boire > bu

plaire >plu

connaître > connu

paraître > paru

lire > lu

vivre > vécu

-ir courir > couru

tenir > tenu

venir > venu

vêtir >vêtu

5 -rt

couvrir > couvert

offrir > offert

ouvrir > ouvert

mourir > mort

6 [irregular]

être > été

naître > né

clore > clos

résoudre > résolu

b In formal French, a distinction is made between the past historic, which places a completed

action squarely in the past, and the passé composé, which links up with the speaker’s present,

either because the events narrated were completed in the recent past, or because the

repercussions of the events are still felt (see Chapter 5).

2 FORMATION

a There are a number of irregular past participles, falling into six types.

You should also note that the past participle of a verb ending in -uireends in -uit, e.g. conduire

> conduit; construire > construit, and the past participle of a verb ending in -indreends in –int,

e.g. craindre > craint; joindre > joint; plaindre > plaint.

b In addition to reflexive verbs, all of which form their passé composénot with avoir, but with

être, there are 13 verbs known as ‘être’ verbs, i.e., aller, arriver, entrer, monter, naître, retourner,

tomber, venir, partir, sortir, descendre, mourir, rester,plus their compounds: rentrer, revenir,

devenir, advenir, survenir, ressortir,etc.

8 French Grammar in Context