These seven irregular verbs appear more than almost any others in French. Once you own them, you can talk about where you go, what you do, where you're from, and what you can/want/must do — which is most of everyday writing.
| aller | to go | + the near future (je vais manger) |
| faire | to do / make | activities, weather, dozens of expressions |
| venir | to come | + the recent past (je viens de manger) |
| prendre | to take | + comprendre, apprendre |
| pouvoir / vouloir / devoir | can / want / must | + any infinitive |
How to study: learn one verb per sitting. Say the whole conjugation out loud three times, then read the examples aloud, then do the mini-check. These must become automatic — you'll reach for them constantly.
| form | sounds like | |
|---|---|---|
| je | vais | « vay » |
| tu | vas | « va » |
| il / elle / on | va | « va » |
| nous | allons | « a-lon » |
| vous | allez | « a-lay » |
| ils / elles | vont | « von » |
See the split: only nous and vous keep the "all-" stem. Everyone else jumps to a "v-" form. So really you only have four odd forms to burn in: vais, vas, va, vont.
vais, vas, va all sound almost the same (« va »). The subject word (je / tu / il) is what tells the listener which one you mean — so never drop the subject.
Conjugating aller is the easy part. The real skill is the preposition before the destination — it changes with the type of place. Here is the full map:
| destination | use | example |
|---|---|---|
| a city | à | à Paris · à Delhi |
| masculine place / country | au (à+le) | au cinéma · au Canada |
| feminine place | à la | à la banque · à la maison |
| place starting with a vowel | à l' | à l'école · à l'hôpital |
| plural place / country | aux (à+les) | aux États-Unis · aux toilettes |
| feminine country | en | en France · en Inde |
| someone's place | chez | chez moi · chez le médecin |
| an enclosed space | dans | dans le jardin · dans ma chambre |
Complete: "Je vais ___ parc." · "Elle va ___ maison." · "Ils vont ___ Japon." · "On va ___ mes amis." → au · à la · au · chez
The verb aller is also the verb of well-being. « Comment ça va ? » literally means "How does it go?"
This is aller's superpower. Conjugate aller in the present, then add any infinitive. It means "going to (do)" — and it's used constantly, in speech and in writing, for anything coming soon.
To make it negative, wrap ne … pas around aller (not the infinitive):
To ask a question, use est-ce que or inversion:
It pairs naturally with future time markers:
Say: "We're going to travel." · "She's not going to come." · "Are you (tu) going to study?" → Nous allons voyager · Elle ne va pas venir · Est-ce que tu vas étudier ?
A workhorse verb used in dozens of fixed expressions — activities, chores, and the weather. Two forms are irregular and often misspelled: nous faisons and vous faites.
| je | fais | feh |
| tu | fais | feh |
| il / elle / on | fait | feh |
| nous | faisons | fuh-zohn (odd spelling!) |
| vous | faites | fett (not "faisez"!) |
| ils / elles | font | fohn |
French weather uses il fait + adjective — not "il est".
Complete: "Nous ___ la cuisine." · "___-vous du sport ?" · "Il ___ froid." → faisons · Faites · fait
Used for coming, and above all for saying where you're from. It also builds the recent past (Section 6).
| je | viens | vyeh(n) |
| tu | viens | vyeh(n) |
| il / elle / on | vient | vyeh(n) |
| nous | venons | vuh-nohn |
| vous | venez | vuh-nay |
| ils / elles | viennent | vyenn |
Remember: from a city → de; from a feminine country → de; from a masculine country → du; before a vowel → d'.
Complete: "Nous ___ de Lyon." · "Ils ___ du Japon." · "Elle ___ ce soir." → venons · viennent · vient
"Take" transport, "take" a meal, and — importantly — its family apprendre (to learn) and comprendre (to understand) follow the exact same pattern.
| je | prends | prah(n) |
| tu | prends | prah(n) |
| il / elle / on | prend | prah(n) |
| nous | prenons | pruh-nohn |
| vous | prenez | pruh-nay |
| ils / elles | prennent | prenn (double n) |
Complete: "Je ___ le métro." · "Vous ___ le français ?" (learn) · "Ils ___ vite." → prends · apprenez · prennent / apprennent
pouvoir (can), vouloir (want), devoir (must). Their superpower: each is followed directly by an infinitive — no preposition. This lets you express ability, desire and obligation instantly.
| pouvoir | vouloir | devoir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | peux | veux | dois |
| tu | peux | veux | dois |
| il/elle/on | peut | veut | doit |
| nous | pouvons | voulons | devons |
| vous | pouvez | voulez | devez |
| ils/elles | peuvent | veulent | doivent |
je veux ("I want") can sound blunt. In requests, use je voudrais ("I would like") — a conditional form you'll meet properly later.
Complete: "Je ___ partir." (must) · "Tu ___ venir ?" (can) · "Ils ___ manger." (want) → dois · peux · veulent
Here's the payoff. Using verbs you already know, you can talk about the near future and the recent past — no new tense to memorize.
Conjugate aller in the present, then add any infinitive. It means "going to (do)".
Conjugate venir in the present, add de, then an infinitive. It means "to have just (done)".
Why this matters for writing: these two structures let you place actions in time — "I'm going to…", "I've just…" — long before you've mastered the full future or past tenses. They're a huge shortcut.
Say: "We are going to travel." · "He has just finished." → Nous allons voyager · Il vient de finir
You don't need to master all of these today, but you'll meet them constantly. Keep this tab as a reference.
| verb | je / il forms | note |
|---|---|---|
| voir see | je vois · il voit · ils voient | nous voyons |
| savoir know (a fact/skill) | je sais · il sait · ils savent | nous savons |
| connaître know (a person/place) | je connais · il connaît | nous connaissons |
| dire say | je dis · il dit · ils disent | vous dites |
| mettre put | je mets · il met · ils mettent | nous mettons |
| partir leave | je pars · il part · ils partent | -ir irregular |
| sortir go out | je sors · il sort · ils sortent | -ir irregular |
| dormir sleep | je dors · il dort · ils dorment | -ir irregular |
savoir or connaître? "Je ___ nager." · "Je ___ ton frère." → sais · connais
The recurring errors from this lesson. Re-read before every writing task.
The questions this lesson always raises.
Quiz for instant feedback, then write about your routine and your plans.
Score: 0 / 18☐ Conjugate aller, faire, venir, prendre from memory ☐ Use the modal trio + infinitive ☐ Contract à+le → au ☐ Build the near future (aller + inf) ☐ Build the recent past (venir de + inf) ☐ Choose savoir vs pouvoir/connaître ☐ Spot all 10 top mistakes in your own writing.
Homework: in the Drill Bank, do Présent — accord sujet-verbe, Le futur (for futur proche), En / à — transport, and Expressions avec avoir/faire/être. Then rewrite both paragraphs, fixing every mistake.
© 2026 Francora. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés.
This material is for one learner’s personal study. Copying it, sharing it, reselling it, uploading it to another site or file-sharing service, or using it to teach a class or to train a machine-learning model, all require written permission first.
Francora is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the CCI Paris Île-de-France, France Éducation international, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or any other examining body or government department. TEF, TEF Canada, TCF and TCF Canada are the trademarks of their respective owners and appear here only to say what this material prepares you for.
Exam formats, score scales and immigration thresholds change. Everything here reflects the published information we could verify at the time of writing, and nothing here is a guarantee of a result. Check the official exam and immigration sources before you act on anything that matters.
Francora · @frenchwithguri