French/Grammar/Verbs/Past participle

Usage

This is added after an auxiliary verb for many past tenses, including passé composé.

Formation

• For a regular -er verb, the past participle is determined by replacing the -er with é.

• For a regular -ir verb, the past participle is determined by removing the final r.
• For a regular -re verb, the past participle is determined by replacing the -re with u.
• Irregular verbs have irregular past participles, as shown by the table.
• For verbs with the auxiliary verb être, the past participle must agree with the subject. For verbs with the auxiliary avoir, the participle never agree with the subject, but with a possible direct complement, if it is written before the verb. For example, in the sentence elles sont arrivées au café, since the subject is both feminine and plural, the participle arrive has an "e" and an "s" to agree with the subject elles, because it's written before the verb, but in the sentence elle a bu le café, the participle bu does not agree with elle.

The table below shows additions to the normal past participle that must be made based on the gender and number of the subject.