two past participles

In lesson 17.0, "preparing a party" I see two different spellings the past participle of prévoir.

Quelle sorte de surprise as-tu prévue...

Qu'est-ce que tu as prévu comme surprise ?

Why are there two differet spellings?

Todd

Bonjour Todd,

This is actually a mistake which I have flagged and will get fixed.

No extra ‘e’ should be added to the past particple when we are speaking in the active voice. The only time we would add an extra ‘e’ to the word prévu when we are using the passive voice and the subject is feminine, or when we are using it as an adjective for a feminine object.

Sorry for the confusion but I hope my explanation cleared things up.

   -   Mitchell

Yes, that helps. Thanks so much!

I was reading about the perfect tense in Collins grammar online and came across a possible explanation for the two spellings above. 

When a verb takes avoir, the past participle usually stays in the masculine singular form, as shown in the table for donner, and does not change for the feminine or plural forms.

Il a fini sa dissertation.He’s finished his essay.Elles ont fini leur dissertation.They’ve finished their essay.

In one particular case, however, the past participle of verbs with avoir does change in the feminine and plural forms. In the sentences above, dissertation is the direct object of the verb finir. When the direct object comes AFTER the verb, as it does in the examples above, then the past participle doesn’t change. If the direct object comes BEFORE the verb, however, the past participle has to change to agree with that direct object.

la dissertation qu’il a finie hierthe essay that he finished yesterdayla dissertation qu’elles ont finie hierthe essay that they finished yesterday

This would explain why the first sentence below uses the feminine to agree with sorte, while the second sentence uses the masculine to agree with ce. In both cases, the direct object comes before the verb. If this is the correct, then the spelling is right. Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ?

Quelle sorte de surprise as-tu prévue...

Qu'est-ce que tu as prévu comme surprise ?

Bonjour Todd,

Yes, that rule does exist. 

I actually thought that this rule had been removed by the Académie française. The French Academy has removed many grammatical rules and accents over the past 10-15 years to simplify the language. This has been done in part to make it easier for people to learn (French people included) but also to get rid of redundant rules that no longer perform their function.

I thought this rule was being culled for the reason that it confuses active and passive French. I remember seeing it on a list somewhere and perhaps the Academy never got round to deleting it or ruled otherwise. There are a few changes like this that keep even French people confused, not knowing whether to use the old rule or the new one. If in doubt use the old one.

In this case, I can only assume that it wasn't changed based on a quick search. So, the above example I shan't be changing and it will stay as is.

I hope this helps,

   -   Mitchell