Most Widely Used French Verbs and Their Conjugation (2023)

The three words that make most French learners shudder: “French verbs conjugation.” We get it.

French isn’t exactly known for its easy grammar and French verb conjugation rules can give even the most seasoned language learners a headache. To help you out, we’ve created a French verb conjugation list, complete with examples and bonus grammar tips. We focus on the most common French verbs and their conjugations in four tenses: présent (present), passé composé (present perfect), imparfait (imperfect), and futur simple (future).

When you get the hang of these and equip yourself with some basic French vocabulary, there’ll be no stopping you!

Common French verbs conjugation table

Conjugating verbs correctly is integral to successful communication. Even if you’re a pro at French question words, nouns, and pronouns, it’s difficult to express oneself confidently if you’re not confident in your French verb conjugations.

To set you up, here are the 20 most common French verbs conjugations, examples of their use in everyday life, and grammar tips.

1. Être(to be)

Example:

Ils sont devant le musée. (They are in front of the museum.)

Grammar tip:

“Être” is one of the two most important French verbs to learn when you’re learning French.French verbs conjugation rules (alongside “avoir” — to have). “Être” has irregular conjugations in just about every tense. It also serves as an auxiliary verb in several compound tenses and moods in French (e.g. passé composé).

E.g. Il est parti tard. (He left late.)

2. Avoir (to have)

Example:

Nous avons eu deux réunions hier. (We had two meetings yesterday.)

Grammar tip:

Like “être”, “avoir” is an essential French verb and has irregular conjugations. For the vast majority of French verbs conjugation, “avoir” serves as the auxiliary verb in the compound tenses and moods.

E.g. Ils ont déjà vu le film. (They have already seen the film.)

3. Aller (to go)

Example:

Ils allaient au parc tous les jours. (They went to the park every day.)

Grammar tip:

Verbs whose auxiliary verb is “être” must show agreement of their past participles in gender (masculine or feminine — add e) and number (singular or plural — add s).

E.g.

• Masculine subject → Je suis allé.
• Feminine subject → Je suis allée.
• Masculine plural → Ils sont allés.
• Feminine plural → Elles sont allées.

For a mixed group, always use the masculine form.

E.g.

• Thomas et Catherine sont revenus. (Thomas and Catherine came back.)

4. Parler (to speak/talk)

Example:

Tu parles si bien l’espagnol ! (You speak Spanish so well!)

Grammar tip:

“Parler” fits the normal pattern for French verbs ending in -er, so it is a ‘regular’ -er verb.

5. Faire (to do)

Example:

Je fais le gâteau pour son anniversaire. (I’m making the cake for her birthday.)

Note: Unlike in English where the present tense has three different forms (the present simple, the present progressive, and the present emphatic), there is only one present tense in French. Le temps présent in French is used to express both momentary action and progressive action. So, “je fais le gâteau” could be translated as “I make the cake”, “I’m making the cake”, and “I do make the cake”.

Grammar tip:

“Faire” is found in many French idiomatic expressions and is the key to the causative construction (“faire” + infinitive).

E.g.

• Il fait froid. (It’s cold.) *Notice that in expressions about the weather, “faire” becomes equivalent to “to be”.
• Nous faisons du ballet. (We do ballet.)
• Elle fait des économies pour un voyage au Japon. (She is saving for a trip to Japan.)
• La pluie fait pousser l’herbe plus vite. (The rain makes the grass grow faster.) *causative construction

6. Prendre (to take)

Example:

Ils ont pris ses bagages par accident ! (They took her luggage by accident!)

Grammar tip:

Like “avoir” and “faire”, the verb “prendre” is one of the most commonly used and comes up in a wide variety of idiomatic expressions in French.

E.g.

• Prendre du poids (to gain weight)
• Prendre son temps (to take one’s time)
• Prendre garde (to watch out/be careful)

7. Vouloir (to want)

Example:

Voulez-vous une salade avec votre repas ? (Do you want a salad with your meal?)

Grammar tip:

“Vouloir” can be used to express a want or a desire, or to politely request something. It can also be used to give strong commands or to willingly agree to something, amongst other uses.

• Desire: Je veux devenir astronaute ! (I want to become an astronaut!)
• Polite request: Voulez-vous tenir ça pour moi ? (Would you please hold this for me?)
• Strong command: Je veux qu’il finisse ses tâches avant de sortir. (I want him to finish his chores before he goes out.)

8. Savoir (to know)

Example:

Nous savions que cela arriverait. (We knew this would happen.)

Grammar tip:

“Savoir” is an irregular French -ir verb, like ouvrir, devoir, falloir, pleuvoir, pouvoir, recevoir, tenir, venir, voir or vouloir.

9. Pouvoir (to be able to)

Example:

Peux-tu s’il te plaît préparer le dîner de ce soir ? (Can you please cook the dinner tonight?)

Grammar tip:

“Pouvoir” is very often used to express politeness in French.

E.g.

Je suis vraiment désolé, mais je ne peux pas vous aider avec ça. (I’m really sorry, but I can’t help you with this.)

10. Venir (to come)

Example:

Tu viens demain ? (You’re coming tomorrow?)

Grammar tip:

Like “aller”, “venir” is conjugated with être.

“Venir de” means to “come from”.

Je viens de Moscou. (I come from Moscow.)

If “venir de” is followed by a verb, then it means “have just”.

E.g.

Elle vient de terminer son devoir. (She has just finished her paper.)

11. Dire (to say/tell)

Example:

Il a dit à tout le monde que nous allions nous marier. (He told everyone we were getting married.)

Grammar tip:

Most French irregular verbs can be organized into five patterns, but “dire” does not fit into any of them. This means you have to learn its conjugation by heart.

12. Donner (to give)

Example:

Non, elle ne lui a pas donné ses livres. (No, she didn’t give him her books.)

Grammar tip:

“Donner” is also used in many idiomatic expressions.

E.g.

• Donner l’exemple (to set an example)
• Donner l’heure à quelqu’un (to tell someone the time)
• Donner une fête (to throw a party)

13. Penser (to think)

Example:

Ils y penseront plus tard. (They will think about it later.)

Grammar tip:

• “Penser à” means “to think about” as “to have someone on your mind”:

Tu penses à elle, n’est-ce pas ? (You are thinking of her, aren’t you?)

• Penser de means “to think about” in the sense of “having an opinion on”:

Que pensez-vous de cet hôtel ? (What do you think about this hotel?)

14. Aider (to help)

Example:

Elle les aidera à déménager. (She will help them move apartments.)

Grammar tip:

“Aider” is a first group verb, so it follows the regular conjugation pattern of the first group verbs that end in -er:

You first remove the -er from the end of the infinitive form of the verb (aider becomes aid). Then, you add the appropriate endings (e.g. in present tense it’s: e, es, e, ons, ez, ent).

15. Aimer (to like/love)

Example:

Ils aimaient jouer ensemble quand ils étaient enfants. (They used to love playing together when they were children.)

Grammar tip:

You can use aimer to express that you love, or are fond of someone or something.

16. Devoir (to have to, to need to)

Example:

Vous devez boire plus d’eau. (You need to drink more water.)

Grammar tip:

It’s easy to confuse “devoir” with “falloir”, which also implies an obligation or necessity. Devoir indicates something that a person is obliged to do, while falloir expresses something that needs to be done. Don’t worry if you’re confused, this is a difficult difference to understand!

E.g.

• Je dois lui dire ça. Je ne peux pas mentir ! (I have to tell him this. I can’t lie!)
• Il faut que je parte. Je vais être en retard ! (I must leave. I’ll be late!)

17. Habiter (to live)

Example:

Elle habitera en Allemagne l’année prochaine. (She will live in Germany next year.)

Grammar tip:

“Habiter” is often followed by a preposition (such as à, en, aux etc.) , but it technically doesn’t require one.

For example, we can say both:

J’habite Londres.

J’habite à Londres.

However, nowadays it’s much more common to place a preposition after the verb “habiter” than not.

18. Regarder (to look, watch)

Example:

Ses parents regardaient la télé tous les soirs quand on n’était pas là. (His parents watched TV every night when we were away.)

Grammar tip:

The French verb “regarder” is active (to watch, to look), while “voir” is more passive (to see, to view, to witness). We use “regarder” when there’s an intention behind the action, and “voir” when we’re just perceiving or witnessing our surroundings.

Here’s an example to illustrate the difference between the two:

La semaine dernière, j’ai regardé les oiseaux dans la forêt. (Last week, I watched the birds in the forest.)

Meaning: Last week, I intentionally observed the birds in the forest.

La semaine dernière, j‘ai vu beaucoup d’oiseaux dans la forêt. (Last week, I saw many birds in the forest.)

Meaning: Last week, when I was in the forest, I saw a lot of birds. I didn’t focus on them, it wasn’t my intention to see them, I just became aware that they were there.

19. Utiliser (to use)

Example:

Avez-vous déjà utilisé cet ordinateur ? (Have you used this computer before?)

Grammar tip:

“Utiliser” is a regular -er verb. It uses the same infinitive endings as the majority of French verbs (e.g. “aimer”, “aider”, “parler”).

20. Essayer (to try)

Example:

Ils ont essayé de se rendre au Panama, mais leur vol était surbooké. (They tried to fly to Panama, but their flight was overbooked.)

Grammar tip:

Usually, with French verbs that end in -yer such as “nettoyer” (to clean), the -y changes to -i before -e, -es and -ent. However, with the verb “essayer”, the -y can, but doesn’t have to change into an -i. So j’essaye and j’essaie, for example, are both correct. This is also the case with some other -ayer verbs such as “payer” (to pay).

Let’s start conjugating!

French verb conjugation rules can easily discourage even the most committed learners.

But you just made an important step! With this French verb conjugation list, you’re ready to start parler le français.

To look up any other French verbs conjugations, check out Reverso Conjugation.

To memorise French verb conjugations, the popular French learning Youtuber behind MyFrenchStory recommends speaking the conjugations out loud and spelling the endings, which is how French children learn conjugations at school. You can learn more about that technique and MyFrenchStory here.

Finally, to practice what you learned and use French verbs in real-life contexts, book a 1-on-1 lesson with a French teacher and take your French-speaking to the next level.