What are the most irregular past participles?

Lots of verbs which are irregular when in the past participle can still be grouped together to make them easier to learn! 

Here are a few of the most common irregular past participles. Remember! A past participle is used when forming the perfct tense, the pluperfect tense, or the future perfect tense. It must always have an auxiliary verb before it. 

Acquérir > acquis             (to acquire)

Apprendre > appris         (to learn)

Comprendre > compris (to understand)

Mettre > mis                      (to put)

Prendre > pris                   (to take)

Falloir > fallu                       (to need to)

Voir > vu                              (to see)

Vouloir > voulu                 (to want to)

Avoir > eu                           (to have)

Boire > bu                           (to drink)

Connaître > connu           (to know)

Croire > cru                         (to believe)

Devoir > dû                         (to have to do something)

Lire > lu                                (to read)

Pouvoir > pu                      (to be able to do something)

Savoir > su                          (to know)

Tenir > tenu                       (to hold)

Venir > venu                      (to come)

Vivre > vécu                       (to live)

Recevoir > reçu                                 (to receive)        (watch out for ç! The cedilla here softens the sound to an ‘s’ rather than a ‘k’. In ‘recevoir’ it is the ‘e’ that follows the ‘c’ that softens the sound.)

Couvrir > couvert             (to cover)

Dire > dit                              (to say)

Faire > fait                           (to do)

Joindre > joint                   (to join)

Mourir > mort                   (to die)

Offrir > offert                    (to offer)

Ouvrir > ouvert                 (to open)

Souffrir > souffert           (to suffer)

Etre > été                            (to be)

Naître > né                         (to be born)

LV

Related French GCSE answers

All answers ▸

What is the difference between the imperfect and the perfect tense? When are they supposed to be used?


How could I improve the register of my French language?


Qu-est-ce que tu aimes faire pendant tes temps libres?


Vous écrivez un article sur la santé des jeunes. Vous devez mentionner ce que vous mangez et buvez, vos méthodes pour rester en forme et votre opinion sur le tabac, et sur l'avenir de la santé des jeunes.