The most common French irregular verbs
By Thierry Gustin
Published
Updated
4 min read
Contents
French irregular verbs are few in proportion, but they are the ones you use most: être, avoir, aller, faire… They turn up in almost every sentence. The good news is that you don't need to learn hundreds of them: master a dozen and you can already say a great deal.
How are French verbs classified?
Traditionally, they are divided into three groups:
- Verbs ending in -er (parler, aimer): the vast majority, and almost all regular. The important exception is aller.
- Verbs ending in -ir with -issons in the nous form (finir → nous finissons): regular.
- The third group: all the others (être, avoir, faire, prendre, venir, voir…). This is where the irregular verbs are.
The 12 essential irregular verbs
| Infinitive | Present (je / nous / ils) | Participle | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
| être (to be) | je suis / nous sommes / ils sont | été | je serai |
| avoir (to have) | j'ai / nous avons / ils ont | eu | j'aurai |
| aller (to go) | je vais / nous allons / ils vont | allé | j'irai |
| faire (to do, to make) | je fais / nous faisons / ils font | fait | je ferai |
| pouvoir (can, to be able to) | je peux / nous pouvons / ils peuvent | pu | je pourrai |
| vouloir (to want) | je veux / nous voulons / ils veulent | voulu | je voudrai |
| devoir (must, to have to) | je dois / nous devons / ils doivent | dû | je devrai |
| savoir (to know) | je sais / nous savons / ils savent | su | je saurai |
| venir (to come) | je viens / nous venons / ils viennent | venu | je viendrai |
| prendre (to take) | je prends / nous prenons / ils prennent | pris | je prendrai |
| dire (to say, to tell) | je dis / nous disons / ils disent | dit | je dirai |
| voir (to see) | je vois / nous voyons / ils voient | vu | je verrai |
Why learn these three forms?
Because the other tenses are built from them:
- From the present (nous faisons) you form the imparfait (je faisais), and from the ils form (ils font… with some exceptions), the subjunctive.
- With the participle you form all the compound tenses: j'ai fait, j'avais fait, j'aurai fait.
- With the future stem you form the future and the conditional: je ferai, je ferais.
So instead of memorising six tenses, you memorise three key forms per verb.
Verb families: learn one and you know several
Many irregular verbs have a "family":
- Like prendre: apprendre, comprendre, surprendre (j'apprends, j'ai compris).
- Like venir: revenir, devenir, tenir, obtenir, retenir (je deviens, j'obtiens).
- Like mettre: permettre, promettre, remettre (j'ai promis).
- Like partir: sortir, dormir, servir (je sors, nous sortons).
Typical mistakes made by English speakers
- Being and having: French uses avoir where English uses "to be" for age and physical sensations. J'ai trente ans (I am thirty), j'ai faim (I'm hungry), j'ai froid (I'm cold), never ✗ je suis trente ans.
- The weather: French uses faire, not être: il fait froid (it's cold), il fait beau (it's nice out), not ✗ il est froid.
- Two verbs for "to know": savoir is for facts and skills (je sais nager, I can swim), connaître for people and places (je connais Paris).
- The auxiliary in the passé composé: English always uses "have", but aller, venir, partir, sortir take être: je suis venu, not ✗ j'ai venu. I cover this in passé composé vs imparfait.
To look up the full conjugation of any verb, Le Figaro's conjugation tool is free and reliable. And to see how these verbs work in the future, read my guide to the French future tense.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most irregular verb in French?
Probably être: je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont, with very different forms in each tense (j'étais, je serai, que je sois).
Is "aller" a regular -er verb?
No. It is the only truly irregular -er verb: je vais, nous allons, ils vont, future j'irai.
How many irregular verbs are there in French?
Third-group verbs number a few hundred, but most of them fall into families that follow the same pattern. With about twenty verbs and their derivatives, you cover almost all your needs.
How do you say "to have to" in French?
Devoir (je dois travailler) or the impersonal form il faut (il faut travailler). The structure avoir à exists, but it is less common.
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