The past participle

What you are building: passé composé = auxiliary + past participle

To talk about a finished past action in French, you often use:

• avoir / être (present) + participe passé
• Example: j’ai + mangé → j’ai mangé (I ate / I have eaten)

In this popup, focus on the participe passé: how to form it and what to watch for.

Step 1: Build the past participle for regular verbs (the “endings rule”)

• Think: remove the infinitive ending, then add the new ending.
• manger: remove -er → mang- + -é → mangé

Step 2: Recognise common irregular past participles (learn them as “whole words”)

Some verbs do not follow -é / -i / -u. You mainly need to memorise the past participle.

Tip: build your own mini-list of frequent verbs in your daily life (work, travel, restaurants) and learn the past participle with one short example.

The most common question: do I need -e / -s (agreement)?

At A1, use this practical rule:

• With avoir: the past participle is usually invariable (no -e, no -s).

Later you will learn special agreement cases (e.g., with être or certain pronouns). For restaurant actions with avoir, keep it simple: no extra letters.

Self-check: can you produce the past participle fast?

1. Identify the infinitive: réserver, apporter, commander…
2. Is it regular?
   • -er → -é
   • -ir → -i
   • -re → -u (often, but not always)
3. If it’s irregular: recall it as a full word (appris, dit, offert, fait…).
4. If you used avoir: keep the past participle unchanged (no -e / -s).

What you should pay attention to in real conversations

• Pronunciation: many past participles end with a silent consonant.
  • mangé (sounds like “man-zhay”)
  • fini (sounds like “fee-nee”)
  • offert: final -t is usually not pronounced
• Spot the auxiliary quickly: if you hear ai / as / a / avons / avez / ont, expect a past participle next.
• Restaurant context shortcut: for food/drinks/actions, you will very often use avoir + past participle.