📖LearnModule 3 · Lesson 4 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, first halfUnit 1 · Le passé composé — the past, part I
Vu, pris, lu, bu — more irregulars
Module 3 of the free French course (CEFR A2, first half), lesson 4 of 30: Four more worth owning early: voir gives vu (seen), prendre gives pris (taken). 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 4.
The words
French
English
Say it
j'ai vu
I saw
zhay VEW
j'ai pris
I took
zhay PREE
j'ai lu
I read (past)
zhay LEW
j'ai bu
I drank
zhay BEW
elle a pris le bus
she took the bus
eh-lah pree luh BEWS
le bus
the bus
luh BEWS
nous avons lu un livre
we read a book
noo zah-voh(n) lew uh(n) LEEVR
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
Four more worth owning early: voir gives vu (seen), prendre gives pris (taken), lire gives lu (read), boire gives bu (drunk).
Et aussi · And also
J'ai vu un oiseau. Elle a pris le bus. Nous avons lu un livre. Tu as bu ton lait?
Attention · Watch out
lu, vu, bu, pris: none of these ends in -é. An irregular participle is learned as a word, not built by a rule.
voir, passé composé — the table
je ai vu · tu as vu · il/elle a vu · nous avons vu · vous avez vu · ils/elles ont vu
prendre, passé composé — the table
je ai pris · tu as pris · il/elle a pris · nous avons pris · vous avez pris · ils/elles ont pris
lire, passé composé — the table
je ai lu · tu as lu · il/elle a lu · nous avons lu · vous avez lu · ils/elles ont lu
boire, passé composé — the table
je ai bu · tu as bu · il/elle a bu · nous avons bu · vous avez bu · ils/elles ont bu
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 vu.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out voir, passé composé and prendre, passé composé and lire, passé composé and boire, 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.