Parlés

Parlés is the masculine plural past participle of the French verb parler, which means to speak or to talk. It appears in compound tenses such as the passé composé and in adjectival phrases, where it must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes or with the preceding direct object.

Forms and agreement

The verb form parlez has the base past participle parlé (masculine singular). The full set includes:

- parlé (masculine singular)

- parlée (feminine singular)

- parlés (masculine plural)

- parlées (feminine plural)

With auxiliary être, the participle agrees with the subject in gender and number (e.g., les mots sont parlés). With auxiliary avoir, the participle agrees only if a preceding direct object is present (e.g., les mots que j’ai parlés).

Usage examples

- J’ai parlé au professeur. (I spoke to the teacher.)

- Les mots que j’ai parlés devant la classe étaient hésitants. Here, the direct object “mots” precedes the participle, so it takes the masculine plural form parlés.

- Les langues parlées dans ce pays sont diverses. In this adjectival use, parlées agrees with the feminine plural noun “langues.”

Relation to other forms

Parlés is primarily a grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item. It relates to parler and to related participles used in passive voice or as adjectives, such as parlé (spoken) or parlera (future form). The term is widely encountered in grammar references and in written French to indicate that something has been spoken or is spoken of as a language.

See also

Parler, passé composé, participe passé, accord du participe passé.