A handful of the most common French verbs, many of which you've already met in our conjugation lessons, have past participles that don't follow the regular -é / -i / -u pattern. They cluster into a few recognizable endings, which makes them easier to learn as groups.
1. Participles ending in -u
| avoir → eu | had |
| voir → vu | seen |
| savoir → su | known |
| pouvoir → pu | been able to |
| vouloir → voulu | wanted |
| connaître → connu | known |
| lire → lu | read |
| boire → bu | drunk |
Fun fact: devoir becomes dû, with a circumflex, purely to distinguish it in writing from the partitive article du. The accent disappears in the feminine and plural: due, dus, dues, where there's no risk of confusion.
2. Participles ending in -is or -it
| prendre → pris | taken (also apprendre → appris, comprendre → compris) |
| mettre → mis | put |
| dire → dit | said |
| écrire → écrit | written |
3. Participles ending in -ert
The ouvrir family (verbs ending in -ouvrir, -offrir, -frir) swap their ending for -ert instead of the expected -i.
| ouvrir → ouvert | opened |
| offrir → offert | offered, given (as a gift) |
| souffrir → souffert | suffered |
4. A few one-offs worth memorizing
| être → été | been |
| faire → fait | done, made |
| naître → né | born (être verb) |
| mourir → mort | died (être verb) |