23.1 Using Past Participles as Adjectives
Let's take a very brief detour from the world of verbs. Just like in English, past participles can also be used as adjectives in French.
Here's a quick reminder on how to form the past participle:
1 For -ER and -RE verbs, drop the ending to find the stem:
parler → parl-vendre → vend-
2 Add -é for -ER verbs and -u for -RE verbs:
parl + é → parlévend + u → vendu
3 For -IR verbs, simply drop the R:
finir → fini
Examples:
Voici Jean, récemment arrivé de ses vacances.
This is Jean, just back (arrived) from his vacation.
Une vie bien vécue
A life well-lived
When past participles are used as adjectives, they must agree (masculine vs. feminine, singular vs. plural) with their nouns:
- la femme récemment mariée the newly married woman
- les plats préparés the prepared dishes
- le voyageur fatigué the weary traveler
That's all there is to it. When a past participle acts as an adjective, it changes to match the noun it describes.