French guides · How French verbs work
French verb conjugation: three families and four exceptions.
French verbs look intimidating written out in a table and are far more orderly than they appear. Nearly every verb belongs to one of three families, decided by the last two letters of the infinitive — -er, -ir or -re — and each family has one set of endings that never changes. The -er family alone covers around ninety per cent of all French verbs. What is left is a short list of irregulars, and four of those matter far more than the rest.
What “conjugating” actually means
A French verb changes its ending to show who is doing it and when. English does this too, barely — I walk but he walks — while French does it for all six persons. The infinitive is the dictionary form, the one ending in -er, -ir or -re, and conjugating means chopping that ending off and replacing it.
| Family | Model verb | How many |
|---|---|---|
| -er | parler — to speak | the overwhelming majority, and the family every new verb joins |
| -ir | finir — to finish | a large, well-behaved second group |
| -re | vendre — to sell | the smallest of the three |
| irregular | être, avoir, aller, faire | few, but the most-used words in the language |
The irregular verbs are irregular because they are used constantly — heavy use protects old forms from being tidied up. So the hardest verbs are also the ones you will meet soonest and repeat most, which is exactly what makes them stick.
The -er family — the one that covers everything
Chop off -er and you are left with the stem parl-, which never moves. Add the endings -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je parle | I speak | |
| tu parles | you speak | |
| il / elle parle | he / she speaks | |
| nous parlons | we speak | |
| vous parlez | you speak | |
| ils / elles parlent | they speak |
Parle, parles, parle and parlent are all pronounced exactly the same — “PARL”. The endings are silent. Only nous and vous add a sound. This is the single most encouraging fact about French verbs, and it means learning to say an -er verb is mostly learning one word.
A handful of -er verbs adjust their spelling to protect a sound — nous mangeons keeps an e so the g stays soft, j’achète takes an accent, j’appelle doubles its l. These are spelling adjustments, not different patterns.
The -ir family — and the -iss- giveaway
Stem fin-, endings -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je finis | I finish | |
| tu finis | you finish | |
| il / elle finit | he / she finishes | |
| nous finissons | we finish | |
| vous finissez | you finish | |
| ils / elles finissent | they finish |
The -iss- in the plural is the marker of this family. Verbs like partir, sortir and dormir also end in -ir but behave differently — nous partons, not “partissons”. If you hear the -iss-, it is a finir verb.
The -re family — where nothing is added at all
Stem vend-, endings -s, -s, —, -ons, -ez, -ent.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je vends | I sell | |
| tu vends | you sell | |
| il / elle vend | he / she sells | |
| nous vendons | we sell | |
| vous vendez | you sell | |
| ils / elles vendent | they sell |
Look at il vend: nothing is added. That empty ending is unique to this family and it feels wrong the first few times you write it. It is correct.
The four irregulars worth memorising first
These four are the most-used verbs in French, and three of them do double duty as the machinery behind other tenses. Learning their présent is the highest-value hour in French grammar.
| Verb | Présent | Its second job |
|---|---|---|
| être — to be | suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont | helper for movement and reflexive verbs |
| avoir — to have | ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont | helper for almost every other past tense |
| aller — to go | vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont | builds the near future |
| faire — to do / make | fais, fais, fait, faisons, faites, font | the weather, sport and housework |
Every verb table on this site
Forty-seven verbs, each with all nine tenses, audio on every form, and the traps that come with it. Every form is generated from the same rules engine the Cocoon French Club runs on and is covered by its test suite — no conjugation on these pages is typed by hand.
Start with the four below if you are new: they are the most-used verbs in French and three of them build other tenses. Then the three models — parler, finir, vendre — which between them cover the pattern of most verbs in the language.
| Verb | Means | Why it earns a page |
|---|---|---|
| être | to be | the most irregular verb in the language |
| avoir | to have | the helper behind most French pasts |
| aller | to go | builds the near future |
| faire | to do / make | the weather, sport and housework |
| venir | to come | venir de is the tense French doesn’t have |
| pouvoir | can / to be able to | the verb with no impératif |
| vouloir | to want | je voudrais is the polite form |
| devoir | must / to owe | one verb, three jobs, and a circumflex |
| savoir | to know | and how it splits from connaître |
| prendre | to take | food, drink and transport |
| comprendre | to understand | prendre’s pattern exactly |
| mettre | to put | clothes, time, and getting started |
| partir | to leave | one of four verbs that mean it |
| sortir | to go out | changes helper depending on the object |
| dormir | to sleep | but not to go to bed |
| voir | to see | the verr- futur, and not regarder |
| dire | to say / tell | vous dites — one of only three |
| lire | to read | the s that appears in the plural |
| écrire | to write | the v that appears from nowhere |
| boire | to drink | three stems in six forms |
| ouvrir | to open | an -ir verb with -er endings |
The three models. Between them they cover the regular pattern of most French verbs.
| Verb | Means | Why it earns a page |
|---|---|---|
| parler | to speak | the model -er verb, and four silent endings |
| finir | to finish | the model -ir verb, and the -iss- giveaway |
| vendre | to sell | the model -re verb, and a form with no ending |
Regular verbs whose spelling bends to keep the sound the same. They look like exceptions and are not.
| Verb | Means | What moves |
|---|---|---|
| acheter | to buy | an è where you hear the vowel |
| appeler | to call | the l doubles — and je m’appelle |
| manger | to eat | an e keeps the g soft |
| commencer | to start | a cedilla keeps the c soft |
| envoyer | to send | y → i, and a rogue futur |
| essayer | to try | both spellings are correct |
| payer | to pay | and no word for “for” |
Everyday regular verbs, where the conjugation is easy and the preposition is not.
| Verb | Means | Why it earns a page |
|---|---|---|
| aimer | to love / to like | bien makes it weaker, not stronger |
| jouer | to play | à a sport, de an instrument |
| donner | to give | who gets lui and who gets le |
| regarder | to watch | no word for “at” |
| penser | to think | penser à and penser de differ |
| travailler | to work | the -ill- is a y sound |
Verbs that take être in the past, so the participle agrees — and two that switch.
| Verb | Means | Why it earns a page |
|---|---|---|
| arriver | to arrive | and arriver à = to manage to |
| rester | to stay | a false friend — not “to rest” |
| monter | to go up | the object switches the helper |
| descendre | to go down | same switch, plus getting off a train |
The rest of the regular families — all following vendre or finir exactly.
Which tenses to learn, in what order
French has a great many tenses and you do not need most of them to hold a conversation. This is the order that gets you talking soonest.
| # | Tense | What it does | Worth it because |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | présent | I speak / I am speaking | French has no separate continuous tense, so this covers both |
| 2 | futur proche | I am going to speak | aller + infinitive; six forms buy you the whole future |
| 3 | passé composé | I spoke / I have spoken | the everyday past; helper + participle |
| 4 | imparfait | I used to speak / I was speaking | descriptions and background; one rule, one exception |
| 5 | futur simple | I will speak | tidier in writing; shares its stem with the next one |
| 6 | conditionnel | I would speak | politeness and hypotheticals |
| 7 | subjonctif | (that) I speak | after il faut que and expressions of feeling |
The futur simple and the conditionnel are built on exactly the same stem — the infinitive, or the verb's own irregular one. The futur takes avoir's présent endings and the conditionnel takes the imparfait's. Learn the stem once and you get both tenses, which is why they sit next to each other on the list.
The tenses beyond these — passé simple, plus-que-parfait, the literary ones — are worth meeting when you start reading. None of them is needed to speak.
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Quick answers
Conjugation, answered.
What to learn, and in what order.