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)

Answered by Laura V. French tutor

3504 Views

See similar French GCSE tutors

Related French GCSE answers

All answers ▸

How do you know whether to put 'de', 'à' or the infinitive after a verb?


How do I write an essay in French?


How do you translate: "Je suis allé en Bretagne pendant le mois d'aout" ?


Describe where you live for your blog.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences