The French Verb,
conjugated in full

Four things make every conjugation in this guide readable. Learn them once and the rest is pattern recognition.

The six persons les pronoms sujets

Every French verb is conjugated for six grammatical persons. Three are singular, three are plural. The verb form changes to match the person, which is why French rarely needs to repeat the pronoun the way English does.

Stem and ending radical et terminaison

To conjugate, take the infinitive, remove its ending, keep the stem, then add the ending for the person and tense. That is the entire mechanism.

For example parler gives the stem parl-, and in the present you add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Irregular verbs keep the same idea but change the stem too, so you learn those as whole forms.

The three groups les trois groupes

Elision j’, n’, m’ before a vowel

Before a vowel or a silent h, short words drop their final vowel and take an apostrophe. This keeps speech smooth.

The six tenses on one line

Here is the whole landscape at a glance. Read it left (earlier) to right (later). The present sits in the middle, and almost everything else is simply a small helper word plus a verb.

The present (le présent de l’indicatif) describes what is true now, what happens regularly, and general facts. Start with the endings, then meet the model verbs group by group.

All endings at a glance

This single matrix is the spine of the present tense. Notice the column that almost never changes: nous ends in -ons and vous ends in -ez for nearly every verb in the language.

* For -re verbs such as vendre, the il / elle / on form adds no spoken ending: the stem already ends in -d (il vend).

Group 1 · verbs in -er

The reliable majority. Keep the stem, add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. If you can conjugate parler, you can conjugate thousands of verbs.

Spelling-change -er verbs

A few -er verbs adjust their spelling so the sound stays consistent. The endings are still the normal Group 1 set; only the stem shifts, and usually only in the nous form or in the singular and ils forms.

Group 2 · verbs in -ir with -iss-

Regular -ir verbs. The signature is the -iss- that appears in all three plural forms. Endings: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent.

Group 3 · -ir, -re and -oir verbs

These are irregular, but many share predictable mini-patterns. Two are worth isolating first.

Type 2 -ir verbs (no -iss-). They drop the final consonant of the stem in the singular, then bring it back in the plural. Endings: -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent.

-re verbs. Regular ones like vendre follow -s, -s, -, -ons, -ez, -ent. Watch for irregular stems such as mettre, which doubles its t in the plural.

Pronominal (reflexive) verbs

These verbs carry an extra pronoun that refers back to the subject: se réveiller (to wake up). The verb itself conjugates normally; you simply place the matching reflexive pronoun in front.

The essential irregular verbs

These do not follow the group endings, so learn them as whole forms. The first two, être and avoir, are the foundation of the whole language: you need them for description, for age, and to build the past tense.

The two pillars (auxiliaries)

High-frequency irregulars

Frequency words and the negative ne ... jamais

Adverbs of frequency say how often something happens. In a present-tense sentence they sit directly after the conjugated verb, never before it.

The imperative (l’impératif) gives instructions, directions, and advice: Écoutez ! Tournez à droite. Prends le métro.

How it is formed

The two irregular imperatives

Être and avoir use special forms. They appear in polite and fixed expressions.

Negative & reflexive imperatives

French has two ways to talk about tomorrow, and they map neatly onto English: the futur proche works like going to (plans already decided, connected to now), and the futur simple works like will (promises, predictions, programmes). Learn the near one first, it carries most conversations; add the simple one to sound complete.

Part 1 · Futur proche going to

The easiest future: you already know everything it needs, because it reuses the present tense of aller.

Je vais organiser un vide-dressing.   Nous allons tricoter un pull.   Mes filles vont être contentes.

Part 2 · Futur simple will

One word instead of two: take the infinitive and add the endings. The endings are easy to remember, they are the present of avoir (-ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont).

Which one do I choose?

The mirror image of the near future. The recent past (le passé récent) says that something just happened, using the present tense of venir plus de.

Je viens de faire la vaisselle. The dishes are done; now I am free. Nous venons de regarder un épisode.

Use d’ before a vowel: vous venez d’arriver.

The main past tense for completed actions: hier, j’ai acheté une armoire. It has two parts, an auxiliary in the present plus a past participle, and your only real decisions are which auxiliary to use and what the participle looks like.

Part 1 · with avoir (most verbs)

The large majority of verbs use avoir. For -er verbs, the past participle ends in -é.

Past participle patterns

The participle depends on the verb family. Four endings cover almost everything, plus a short list of true irregulars.

Part 2 · with être (a small, important group)

A set of verbs, mostly about movement or a change of state, build the passé composé with être instead of avoir. With être, the participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, like an adjective.

The house of être a picture to remember them

A classic trick: picture a house and its day. Almost every être verb is a movement in, out, up, down, or a moment of the life lived there, so the drawing itself becomes the memory.

The complete list every être verb, in pairs

There are 14 core verbs (plus a few built from them). Almost all come as opposite pairs, which makes them easy to store two at a time. Think of a life story: you are born, you come and go, you arrive and leave, and one day you die.

A past tense for description and background: how things were, what was going on, what you used to do. It is the scene-setter that pairs with the passé composé for the events.

1 · How to build it one easy rule

2 · When to use it background, habit, description

Many everyday functions, obligation, prohibition, requests, and advice, are built by combining a key verb or phrase with an infinitive. The infinitive never changes; the meaning comes from what precedes it.

Obligation il faut, devoir

Il faut apporter sa serviette.   On doit manger sain.   Both express what is necessary. il faut comes from the impersonal verb falloir and exists only in the il form.

Prohibition the negative side

Make the same verbs negative, or use a fixed phrase, to forbid something.

Polite requests merci de, prière de

Merci de fermer la porte.   Prière de trier vos déchets. A softer, signage-style way to ask.

Giving advice le conseil

Two natural ways to advise someone, both already in your toolkit.

Some verbs pair with a specific small word that changes the meaning or replaces information. These are part of knowing the verb, so learn them together.

aller + place or person

With aller (and verbs of location), the preposition tells you whether you are heading to a place or to a person.

venir de + place: saying where you are from

The mirror image of aller à. To say where someone comes from, arrives from, or returns from, use venir, arriver or revenir followed by de. The little word shifts with the place.

The pronoun y

y replaces a place already mentioned, so you do not repeat it. It goes before the verb.

Tu vas à la pharmacie ? Oui, j’y vais.   Negative: je n’y vais pas.

Direct object pronouns le, la, l’, les

These replace a noun (a person or a thing) that receives the action, and they also go before the verb.

Paul ? Je le contacte.   Ma voisine ? Je la connais bien.   Cette photo ? Je l’adore.   Negative: je ne la connais pas.

Activities: jouer and faire

Two everyday verbs choose a different little word depending on what follows. Learn each pairing as a fixed habit.

A few verbs exist only in the il form, where il is not “he” but the empty “it” of “it is raining”. They cover the weather, the time, and necessity.

1 · The weather la météo

2 · The time il est … heure(s)

3 · Necessity falloir → il faut

The verb falloir appears only as il faut. Follow it with a noun or an infinitive.

Il faut une carafe d'eau. (+ noun)   Il faut faire du sport. (+ infinitive)   In the past: il fallait.

The core verbs side by side in the three forms you will reach for most: present, imperative, and passé composé. Verbs that take être in the past are marked.

Forms shown in compact form to fit; full six-person tables for each verb appear in their sections above. Pouvoir, vouloir and devoir have no everyday imperative.