Conjugate courir and derivatives (+avoir) in the compound past in French (Le Passé Composé)

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2022-02-18

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In Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), the verb courir (to run) and its derivatives* have an irregular past participle: -couru.

Note that courir uses the auxiliary avoir, although it refers to a movement (see Conjugate coming and going verbs (+ être) in the compound past in French (Le Passé Composé))
This also applies to its derivatives*.

Conjugation of COURIR (to run) in Le Passé Composé (Indicatif) in French

j'	ai couru
tu	as couru
il / elle / on	a couru
nous	avons couru
vous	avez couru
ils/elles	ont couru

Here's the pattern to conjugate courir in Le Passé Composé (Indicatif) :

avoir in Le Présent + couru

Here are some examples:

J'ai couru pour arriver à l'heure.I ran to get there on time.

Est-ce que tu as déjà couru dans ce parc ?Have you already run in that park?

Anna a couru dans les bras de Laurent.Anna ran into Laurent's arms.

Nous avons couru de chez nous jusqu'au restaurant !We ran from our house to the restaurant!

Vous n'avez jamais couru de toute votre vie !You've never run in your whole life!

Les enfants ont couru tout l'après-midi.The children ran all afternoon.

Note that with avoir as an auxiliary, past participles never agree with the subject of the verb:

Il a couru une heure ce matin.He ran for an hour this morning.

Elle a couru une heure ce matin.She ran for an hour this morning.

*These derivatives follow the same pattern as courir:

parcourir (to go through, to glance through...) -> parcouru
recourir à (to have recourse to, to resort to) -> recouru
concourir à (to compete, to contribute) -> concouru
secourir (to rescue) -> secouru
encourir (to incur) -> encouru

Here are more examples:

J'ai parcouru votre script, et ce n'est pas mal du tout !i went over your script, and it's pretty good!

Est-ce que tu as recouru à un spécialiste ?Did you have recourse to a specialist?

Le pompier a secouru mon chiot.The fireman rescued my puppy.

Nous avons encouru des pertes importantes.We incurred important losses.

Vous avez parcouru 10km à vélo.You covered 10km on your bikes.

Toutes ces réformes ont concouru à leur succès.All these reforms contributed to their success.

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