Here are the 19 most important irregular verbs to know in French. They are important because they are very frequently used. They are also important to know because many exist in compound form (eg, venir is used in the compound forms revenir, devenir, prévenir, provenir, convenir, survenir and advenir, among others). Since these 19 verbs are irregular, the way they are conjugated doesn’t follow the rules of regular verbs. (Conjugation: using the appropriate spellings of the verb to match I, you, he/she/it/one/etc, we, you and they).
If you’re wondering why such frequently used verbs are also so irregular, it is because verbs that are used more frequently tend to undergo more changes over the centuries. Less frequently used verbs experience fewer changes, and so tend to follow regular conjugation patterns.
Verbs at the top of this list are more frequently used than verbs at the bottom of this list. So focus on learning the first nine (9) verbs at the top of the list before working on the later ones. These are être, avoir, faire, aller, venir, devoir, pouvoir, vouloir and savoir.
If you don’t know what “past participle” and “conjugated with” and “future simple stem” means, because you haven’t yet learned the Passé Composé tense or the Future Simple tense, please ignore those parts. Just focus on learning the je, tu, il, nous, vous, and ils forms of each verb.
Intermediate topics:
Notice that the “they” form (ils) of the first four irregular verbs end in “-ont.” “Être” is “ils sont,” “avoir” is “ils ont,” “faire” is “ils font,” and “aller” is “ils vont.” These are the only verbs in French ending in “ont” in the “ils” form.
Notice also that the “vous” forms of “être,” “faire,” and “dire” do NOT end in “-ez” like all other verbs in French (eg vous avez, vous allez, etc). Instead they end in “-tes.” So “you are” is “vous êtes,” “you do” is “vous faites” and “you say” is “vous dites.” These are the only three verbs in the French language where the “vous” form ends in “-tes.”
Many irregular verbs are also used in compound forms (eg “venir” is used in “revenir”), which are also conjugated similarly to the original verb. For example, “venir” (to come) gives us “revenir” (to come back/again), and “prendre” (to take) gives us “comprendre” (to understand).
Many of these irregular verbs have their past participle ending in the letter “u,” even though very few of them are verbs whose infinitives end in “-re.” Regular verbs like “vendre” and “attendre” have their past participle ending in “u.” “Vendre” becomes “vendu” in the past (sold) and “attendre” becomes “attendu” in the past (waited for/awaited). But all the irregular verbs ending in “-oir” have their past participle ending in “u,” along with a few other irregular verbs.
Compounds:
Some of these irregular verbs also serve as the foundation for other irregular verbs that are conjugated in the same way, called “compounds.” These include venir (24 compounds), prendre (11 compounds), mettre (12 compounds), dire (7 compounds), partir (8 compounds), voir (4 compounds), ouvrir (14 compounds), courir (7 compounds), recevoir (5 compounds) and vivre (2 compounds). So if you learn to conjugate these “master” irregular verbs, you will also know how to conjugate their compound forms. Read the article about Compounds & Homologues for more information.
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