Venir de + Infinitive: The French Recent Past, with Examples

Venir de + an infinitive means have just: Je viens de manger. - I have just eaten. Venir stays in the present; put it in the imparfait and it means had just. That is the whole construction:

On a time line, it sits a moment before now, the mirror image of aller + infinitive, the near future:

Have just: venir in the present

Conjugate venir in the present, add de, and leave the second verb as an infinitive. Only venir changes.

• Je viens de finir mon travail. - I have just finished my work.
• Le train vient de partir. - The train has just left.
• Vous venez de rater le bus. - You have just missed the bus.

Just is relative, as in English: Elle vient d'avoir vingt ans. - She has just turned twenty. That can be a week after the birthday.

d' before a vowel

Before a vowel or a silent h, de becomes d', as it does everywhere in French.

• Il vient d'arriver. - He has just arrived.
• Je viens d'entendre la nouvelle. - I have just heard the news.
• Nous venons d'ouvrir la porte. - We have just opened the door.

Three jobs for venir

What follows venir decides what it means. Only de + an infinitive is the recent past.

The last two rows are plain venir, to come. Mixing up the first and third is the classic slip: one little de turns I'm coming to see into I have just seen. How other verbs join an infinitive is on verbs followed by à or de.

Had just: venir in the imparfait

Put venir into the imparfait and the action was fresh at a moment in the past: had just. The imparfait builds on the nous stem ven-.

It usually sets the scene for something that then happened, in the passé composé:

• Je venais de partir quand le téléphone a sonné. - I had just left when the phone rang.
• Il venait d'arriver quand le film a commencé. - He had just arrived when the film started.
• Nous venions de finir le repas quand ils sont entrés. - We had just finished the meal when they came in.

This is the imparfait doing its usual job, the background, with the passé composé as the event that cuts in.

Venir de or the passé composé?

The passé composé says an action happened, with no comment on when. Venir de says it happened a moment ago.

Because venir de means just, it does not sit with a date long gone. Being born in 2010 is not something you have just done: Je suis né en 2010. - I was born in 2010.

Venir itself never goes into the passé composé in this construction. Je suis venu de manger is not French for I have just eaten.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Say three things you have just done: Je viens de...
2. Tell one story with je venais de... quand...
3. For the near future, the mirror image, read French future tenses.