📖LearnModule 3 · Lesson 3 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, first halfUnit 1 · Le passé composé — the past, part I
Eu, été, fait — the famous participles
Module 3 of the free French course (CEFR A2, first half), lesson 3 of 30: The three giants have irregular participles: avoir gives eu (had). On this page: 7 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 3.
The words
French
English
Say it
j'ai eu
I had
zhay EW
j'ai été
I was / I have been
zhay ay-TAY
j'ai fait
I did / I made
zhay FEH
il a fait ses devoirs
he did his homework
eel ah feh say duh-VWAHR
les devoirsplural
the homework
lay duh-VWAHR
elle a eu peur
she was scared
eh-lah ew PUHR
la peur
the fear
lah PUHR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
The three giants have irregular participles: avoir gives eu (had), être gives été (was/been), faire gives fait (did/made).
Et aussi · And also
J'ai eu sept ans en mai — I turned seven in May. Il a fait ses devoirs. On a été contents.
Attention · Watch out
été is the participle of être and takes avoir: j'ai été. It looks like l'été (summer) and has nothing to do with it.
avoir, passé composé — the table
je ai eu · tu as eu · il/elle a eu · nous avons eu · vous avez eu · ils/elles ont eu
faire, passé composé — the table
je ai fait · tu as fait · il/elle a fait · nous avons fait · vous avez fait · ils/elles ont fait
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with j'ai eu.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out avoir, passé composé and faire, passé composé in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.