Past Participle

Several French tenses are formed using the past participle and an auxiliary verb - for example, passé composé. Let's learn how to create and use the past participle.

Forming the Past Participle

Rule 1: For verbs that end with -er, the past participle is formed by replacing the ending -er with -é.

Rule 2: Most verbs that end with -ir replace it with -i.

Exception: However, there are many irregular forms of the past participle:

It's better to memorize these forms when you come across them for the first time.

Agreement of the Past Participle

To check how the past participle agrees with the subject, go to this grammar point.

Past Participle Functioning as an Adjective

Rule 3: The past participle is not only used to form compound tenses. It can also be used as an adjective to modify the noun. Of course, in this case, it has to agree in gender and number with the noun.