The Passé Composé with the Auxiliary “avoir” Part 3: Verbs of the Third Group Lesson 2: Verbs ending in “re”, “rendre” , “mettre”, and “aître”

The passé composé is a tense used to express an action or a state that happened in the past. We call it “composé” because it’s composed of two parts: An auxiliary, either the auxiliary “être” to be or the auxiliary “avoir” to have and a past participle of a verb. In this part we will only tackle the passé composé of the verbs of the third group that require the auxiliary “avoir” .

The verbs of the third group are called irregular because they don’t follow a specific rule when they are conjugated. Because there are so many irregular verbs, we will classify them here according to the formation of their past participle. In this lesson, we will study the verbs of the third group ending in “re”, “rendre”, “mettre” and “aître”.

Past participles of the verbs of the third group ending in “re” vary according to the verbs:

Verbs of the third group ending in “re” that form their past participle by dropping the “re” and replacing it with “u” :

attendre, battre, combattre, conclure, confondre, convaincre, correspondre, défendre, détendre, entendre, exclure, fondre, mordre, perdre, prétendre, rendre, suspendre, tendre, vaincre, vendre.

For example: To find the past participle of the verb “attendre”, you remove the “re” at the end of the verb and replace it with “u” and you obtain “attendu”.

J’ai attendu le bus pendant deux heures mais il n’est jamais venu.
I waited for the bus for two hours, but it never came.

Le beurre a fondu parce que tu l’as laissé sur la table.
The butter melted because you left it on the table.

Verbs of the third group ending in “rendre” that form their past participle by dropping the “endre” and replacing it with “ is” :

apprendre, comprendre, entreprendre, prendre, reprendre, surprendre.

For example: To find the past participle of the verb “ apprendre”, you remove the “endre” at the end of the verb and replace it with “is” and you obtain “appris”.

Nous avons beaucoup appris de nos erreurs.
We learned a lot from our mistakes.

Quand avez-vous repris votre travail?
When did you resume work?

Verbs of the third group ending in “mettre” that form their past participle by dropping the “ettre” and replacing it by “is” :

admettre, commettre, émettre, mettre, omettre, permettre, promettre, remettre, soumettre.

For example: To find the past participle of the verb “admettre”, you remove the “ettre” at the end of the verb and you replace it with “is” and you obtain “admis”.

Le suspect a admis qu’il a commis le crime.
The suspect admitted that he committed the crime.

Nos programmes ont permis à beaucoup d’enfants issus de milieux défavorisés de bénéficier d’une bourse à l’étranger.
Our programs allowed many underprivileged children to receive a scholarship to study abroad.

Verbs of the third group ending in “aître” that form their past participle by dropping the “aître” and replacing it by “u” :

connaître, paraître, comparaître, apparaître, disparaître, réapparaître, reparaître.

For example: To find the past participle of the verb “connaître”, you remove “aître” at the end of the verb and you replace it with “u” and you obtain “connu”.

Ils ont connu cet homme lors d'une fête.
They have met this man at a party.

Dès qu’il est rentré dans le bus son portefeuille a disparu.
As soon as he got on the bus, his wallet disappeared.