Day 43 — Passé Composé: Third Group Verbs

1. Topic Introduction

The third group is the most important and also the most irregular verb group in French. In the passé composé, third group verbs are essential because many of the most common daily verbs belong here:

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• prendre (to take)
• mettre (to put)
• venir (to come)
• voir (to see)
• lire (to read)
• écrire (to write)
• boire (to drink)
• dire (to say)
• faire (to do / make)
• ouvrir (to open)

Unlike first and second group verbs, third group verbs do not follow one single participle rule. Their past participles must often be memorised individually.

Examples:

French Sentence	Meaning	Pronunciation
J’ai pris un livre.	I took a book	zhay pree zun leevr
Nous avons vu le film.	We saw the film	noo zah-von vy luh film

The main challenge today is learning the most frequent participle patterns.

2. Reminder: Structure of the Passé Composé

The structure remains the same.

Part	Function	Example
auxiliary	helps form tense	ai
past participle	completed action	pris

Formula

Formula	Example	Meaning
subject + auxiliary + past participle	J’ai pris	I took

Important:

Many third group verbs use avoir.

Some movement verbs later use être.

Today we first focus on the most common avoir forms, then explain être verbs.

3. Why Third Group Verbs Are Different

First group:

• parler → parlé

Second group:

• finir → fini

Third group:

• no single pattern

Infinitive	Past Participle
prendre	pris
mettre	mis
voir	vu
lire	lu
boire	bu

So third group verbs must often be memorised individually.

4. Most Common Third Group Participles with Avoir

Pattern: -re → -is / -u / -it / -t depending on verb

Infinitive	Meaning	Past Participle	Pronunciation
prendre	to take	pris	pree
mettre	to put	mis	mee
dire	to say	dit	dee
écrire	to write	écrit	ay-kree
faire	to do / make	fait	feh
lire	to read	lu	ly
voir	to see	vu	vy
boire	to drink	bu	by
recevoir	to receive	reçu	ruh-sy
pouvoir	can / to be able	pu	py

Important:

There is no universal ending. Memorisation is necessary.

5. Full Conjugation with Prendre

Infinitive

Verb	Meaning	Pronunciation
prendre	to take	prahndr

Past Participle

Form	Meaning	Pronunciation
pris	taken	pree

Full Conjugation

Subject	Passé Composé Form	Meaning	Pronunciation
j’ai pris	I took	I have taken	zhay pree
tu as pris	you took	you have taken	tu ah pree
il a pris	he took	he has taken	eel ah pree
elle a pris	she took	she has taken	el ah pree
nous avons pris	we took	we have taken	noo zah-von pree
vous avez pris	you took	you have taken	voo zah-vay pree
ils ont pris	they took	they have taken	eel zon pree
elles ont pris	they took	they have taken	el zon pree

The participle pris stays unchanged here.

6. Other Very Frequent Third Group Verbs with Avoir

Mettre

Passé Composé	Meaning
j’ai mis	I put
nous avons mis	we put

Voir

Passé Composé	Meaning
elle a vu	she saw
ils ont vu	they saw

Lire

Passé Composé	Meaning
j’ai lu	I read
vous avez lu	you read

Écrire

Passé Composé	Meaning
il a écrit	he wrote
nous avons écrit	we wrote

Faire

Passé Composé	Meaning
j’ai fait	I did / made
elles ont fait	they did

7. Meaning of Third Group Passé Composé

The meaning remains a completed action.

French Sentence	Meaning
J’ai lu un livre.	I read a book
Elle a vu le film.	She saw the film
Nous avons fait le travail.	We did the work

8. Time Expressions Commonly Used

French Expression	Meaning	Pronunciation
hier	yesterday	yee-air
hier soir	yesterday evening	yee-air swahr
ce matin	this morning	suh mah-tan
lundi	Monday	lun-dee
la semaine dernière	last week	lah suh-men dair-nyair

Examples

French Sentence	Meaning
J’ai vu ce film hier.	I saw this film yesterday
Nous avons écrit lundi.	We wrote on Monday

9. Negative Form

Negation still surrounds the auxiliary.

Structure	Meaning
subject + ne + auxiliary + pas + participle	negative form

Examples

French Sentence	Meaning
Je n’ai pas pris le livre.	I did not take the book
Elle n’a pas vu le film.	She did not see the film
Nous n’avons pas écrit.	We did not write

10. Question Form

Intonation

French Question	Meaning
Tu as pris ?	Did you take?
Il a vu ?	Did he see?

Est-ce que

French Question	Meaning
Est-ce que tu as lu ?	Did you read?
Est-ce qu’elle a écrit ?	Did she write?

Inversion

French Question	Meaning
As-tu pris ?	Did you take?
A-t-il vu ?	Did he see?

11. Third Group Verbs That Use Être

Some third group verbs use être because they express movement or change of place.

The most important are:

Verb	Past Participle	Auxiliary
venir	venu	être
partir	parti	être
sortir	sorti	être
arriver	arrivé	être

Important:

Even though arriver is first group, it also uses être because of movement.

12. Example with Venir

Infinitive

Verb	Meaning	Pronunciation
venir	to come	vuh-neer

Past Participle

Form	Meaning	Pronunciation
venu	come	vuh-ny

Full Conjugation

Subject	Passé Composé Form	Meaning
je suis venu	I came (masculine)
je suis venue	I came (feminine)
nous sommes venus	we came (masculine/mixed)
nous sommes venues	we came (female group)

Important:

With être, participle agrees in gender and number.

13. Agreement with Être

Subject	Masculine	Feminine
singular	venu	venue
plural	venus	venues

Example

French Sentence	Meaning
Elle est venue hier.	She came yesterday
Ils sont venus tôt.	They came early

14. Comparison: Avoir vs Être

Verb	Auxiliary	Example
prendre	avoir	j’ai pris
voir	avoir	j’ai vu
venir	être	je suis venu
partir	être	elle est partie

This distinction must be memorised carefully.

15. Frequent Errors to Avoid

Incorrect	Correct	Reason
J’ai prendre	J’ai pris	infinitive not allowed
Je suis pris	J’ai pris	wrong auxiliary
Elle a venue	Elle est venue	movement verb uses être
Nous avons vu pas	Nous n’avons pas vu	negative order wrong

16. Vocabulary

French Word	Gender	Meaning	Pronunciation
le livre	masculine	book	luh leevr
le film	masculine	film	luh film
la lettre	feminine	letter	lah letr
le travail	masculine	work	luh tra-vahy
la porte	feminine	door	lah port
la maison	feminine	house	lah may-zon
le train	masculine	train	luh tran
la question	feminine	question	lah kes-tyon
la réponse	feminine	answer	lah ray-pons
le message	masculine	message	luh may-sazh

17. Mini Paragraph

Hier, j’ai pris le train tôt. Ensuite, j’ai lu un livre pendant le trajet. À midi, j’ai vu un ami et nous avons écrit un message ensemble. Le soir, je suis venu à la maison tard.

Meaning:

Yesterday, I took the train early. Then I read a book during the journey. At noon, I saw a friend and we wrote a message together. In the evening, I came home late.

18. Memory Practice

French Sentence	Meaning
J’ai pris le livre.	I took the book
Tu as vu le film.	You saw the film
Elle a lu la lettre.	She read the letter
Nous avons fait le travail.	We did the work
Vous avez écrit un message.	You wrote a message
Ils ont mis la table.	They set the table
Elle est venue hier.	She came yesterday

Summary Notes

Concept	Key Rule
third group	irregular participles
main structure	subject + auxiliary + participle
common auxiliary	mostly avoir
movement verbs	often use être
avoir verbs	participle unchanged
être verbs	participle agrees
main challenge	participles must be memorised
negative	ne … pas around auxiliary
question	auxiliary controls question form
key learning point	third group verbs require memorisation of participles one by one

The most important lesson today is this: third group passé composé becomes easy only when you memorise each common verb with its own past participle and auxiliary together.