The past participle
The past participle is formed by adding the following endings to the verb stem:
• é for verbs ending in -er
• i for the majority of verbs ending in -ir
• u with verbs like attendre, boire, voir, lire, etc.
• it or is with verbs like écrire, dire, prendre, etc.
• é for verbs ending in -er
• i for the majority of verbs ending in -ir
• u with verbs like attendre, boire, voir, lire, etc.
• it or is with verbs like écrire, dire, prendre, etc.
Aimer, écouter → Aimé, écouté liked, listened
Finir, dormir → Fini, dormi finished, slept
Attendre, boire, voir, lire → Attendu, bu, vu, lu waited, drank/drunk, saw/seen, read
Écrire, dire, prendre → Écrit, dit, pris wrote/written, said, took/taken
Finir, dormir → Fini, dormi finished, slept
Attendre, boire, voir, lire → Attendu, bu, vu, lu waited, drank/drunk, saw/seen, read
Écrire, dire, prendre → Écrit, dit, pris wrote/written, said, took/taken
The past participle is used:
• as an adjective, to modify a noun. It must agree with the noun in gender and number: adding e in the feminine, s in the plural, and es in the feminine plural forms.
• as an adjective, to modify a noun. It must agree with the noun in gender and number: adding e in the feminine, s in the plural, and es in the feminine plural forms.
Préférer → un film préféré, une phrase préférée, des livres préférés a favorite film, a favorite phrase, favorite books.
Lire → des livres lus, des histoires lues, un journal lu books (already) read, stories (already) read, a read newspaper.
Lire → des livres lus, des histoires lues, un journal lu books (already) read, stories (already) read, a read newspaper.
• to form compound tenses (passé composé, plus-que-parfait, passif, etc) with the auxiliary verbs être and avoir.
Elle a fini la bouteille, ils ont fini la bouteille finir, passé composé She finished the bottle, they finished the bottle (avoir auxiliary → no agreement with the subject)
Ils étaient venus, elles étaient venues venir, plus-que-parfait They had come, they had come (être auxiliary → agreement with the subject)
Ils étaient venus, elles étaient venues venir, plus-que-parfait They had come, they had come (être auxiliary → agreement with the subject)
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