French Irregular Verbs
French has a reputation for verb chaos that the numbers do not support. Around ninety per cent of French verbs end in -er and almost all of them are regular. What makes the language feel irregular is that the exceptions are the words you need in your first week.
The right approach is to sort them into groups. Very little in French irregularity is genuinely one of a kind.
The big four
These four are irregular in the present, in their participles and in their future stems. They are also the four most useful verbs in the language.
| être (to be) | avoir (to have) | aller (to go) | faire (to do, make) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| / j' | ||||
| as | ||||
| / / on | a | |||
| / |
Three points worth holding onto:
- and are the auxiliaries for every compound tense, so they turn up in nearly every past sentence.
- builds the near future: (I am going to eat). Learning aller buys you a whole tense.
- and are two of only three verbs in the language taking - rather than -ez in the vous form. The third is (dire).
The -ir split
This is the group that causes the most confusion, because -ir is really two families wearing the same coat.
Family 1: the type. Inserts -iss- in the plural. This is the larger group.
| Person | finir |
|---|---|
| finissons | |
| finissez | |
| finissent |
Also: choisir (to choose), réussir (to succeed), remplir (to fill), grandir (to grow), réfléchir (to think about).
Family 2: the type. No -iss-, and the final consonant of the stem drops in the singular.
| Person | partir |
|---|---|
| part | |
| partons | |
| partent |
Also: sortir (to go out), dormir (to sleep), servir (to serve), sentir (to feel), mentir (to lie).
Nothing in the infinitive tells you which family a verb belongs to. and are structurally identical and behave differently. This has to be learned verb by verb, and it is the one place in French verbs where there is no shortcut.
The -re verbs
Regular -re verbs (vendre, attendre, répondre, entendre) follow one pattern: -s, -s, -, -, -ez, -ent, with nothing at all in the third person singular. , not il vendt.
The irregular ones cluster usefully:
and its family (apprendre, comprendre) double the n in the plural:
- je prends, tu prends, il prend, nous pren, vous prenez, ils prennent
and its family (permettre, promettre) double the t:
- je mets, tu mets, il met, nous mettons, vous mettez, ils mettent
Others worth knowing individually: dire (je dis, vous ), lire (je lis, nous lisons), écrire (j'écris, nous écrivons), boire (je bois, nous buvons, ils boivent), croire (je crois, nous croyons).
The modal group
Four verbs behave alike and appear constantly, usually followed by an infinitive.
| pouvoir (can) | vouloir (want) | devoir (must) | savoir (know) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The first three share a shape: -x, -x, -t in the singular, then a stem change in the plural. is the odd one out with regular -s, -s, -t.
against is worth a note. Savoir is for facts and skills ( , I can swim). Connaître is for familiarity with people and places ( ).
Irregular past participles
These have to be memorised, but they are short and there are not many.
| Verb | Participle | Verb | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
carries a circumflex only in the masculine singular, to distinguish it from the article . The feminine is plain due.
Irregular future stems
The future is built by adding endings to the infinitive, so it is nearly always regular. A small set uses a modified stem, and the endings never change.
| Verb | Future stem | je form |
|---|---|---|
| ser- | ||
| aur- | ||
| ir- | ||
| - | ||
| viendr- | ||
| pourr- | ||
| voudr- | ||
| devr- | ||
| saur- | ||
| verr- | ||
| faudr- | ||
| enverr- |
The same stems build the conditional (je serais, j'irais, je ferais), so this table earns its keep twice.
Worked examples
- . (I am tired.) - être
- . (We have three dogs.) - avoir
- . (She goes to work.) - aller
- . (It is cold.) - faire, in its weather use
- à . (We finish at five.) - finir family
- sortons . (We are going out tonight.) - partir family
- . (I cannot come.) - pouvoir plus infinitive
- J' train. (I took the train.) - irregular participle
Common mistakes English speakers make
The first is regularising the -ir plural: nous partissons instead of partons, or nous finons instead of . The two families have to be kept apart.
The second is using -ez for with , and : vous êtez, vous faisez, vous disez. It is , , .
The third is regularising past participles: j'ai voyé for j' , j'ai prendu for j' .
The fourth is regularising the future: je alleraí instead of j'. The stems in the table above are the only ones that change, but they are the verbs you reach for most.
The fifth is using for people: je sais Marie. Familiarity with a person is .
See also
- avoir or être in the passé composé covers which auxiliary these verbs take.
- Conjugating -er verbs in the present covers the regular majority.
- Future tense covers the pattern the stems above depart from.
- French subject pronouns covers the pronouns every table here depends on.