Achevés

Achevés is the masculine plural past participle of the French verb achever, meaning finished or completed. In usage it often functions as an adjective, agreeing with its noun in gender and number: un travail achevé, des travaux achevés; une œuvre achevée, des œuvres achevées.

As with other participles, the feminine forms are achevée (singular) and achevées (plural), and the masculine singular is achevé. When used in compound tenses, achevé forms part of the passive or semi-auxiliary constructions with être or avoir, just like other past participles.

Usage and examples: achevé is common in formal, technical, and literary contexts to denote the completion of projects, tasks, or processes. Examples include des travaux achevés en 2023, un dossier achevé, or un rapport achevé. In addition to its primary sense of completion, achevé can appear in figurative expressions, such as un homme achevé, describing someone worn out or exhausted.

Etymology and related terms: the verb achever originates in Old French; its precise origin is uncertain. It belongs to a family of Romance verbs built with the prefix a- and related to finishing or bringing to an end. A related noun is achèvement, meaning the act or process of completion, often used in legal, architectural, or project-management contexts.