The 5 Trickiest French Verbs to Conjugate

Author: Nicole

Conjugating verbs is probably one of the least fun parts of learning a new language. In French, it can be tricky because there are a lot of tenses to remember, and let me not even get started on the subjunctive mood (and all the irregular verbs).

These French verbs had me scratching my head a lot when I was in the process of learning French!

First of all I would like to say that there are ways to trigger your memory. Here is an excellent guide to French verb conjugations to get you started.

Here are my tips to help you learn French conjugations more quickly and effectively:

  1. Get creative! It’s the perfect way to get your creativity juices flowing and create colorful posters and sheets for every verb. I used to stick the ones I found trickiest on the wall in my bedroom. I would use highlighters and bright colors for all the different verb endings.
  2. Small flashcards are great. I found it easier to remember smaller amounts of verb conjugations than huge sheets of various ones.
  3. Always learn your French verb conjugation with audio recordings, otherwise, you may miss important liaisons and silent letters. I suggest you check-out French Today’s French Verb Drills which will not only provide the correct pronunciation, but help you exercise in drilling the conjugations in a fun and efficient audio format.
  4. Once you’ve memorized the right pronunciation, you can record yourself saying verb conjugations out loud (on your phone) and then play them back over and check your pronunciation to Camille’s!
French Verb Audio Drills

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Now, there are some verbs which are particularly tricky to conjugate. Here is a list of 5 of the trickiest verbs to conjugate in French (in my opinion) and why!:

Être (To Be)

Number 1 spot goes to ‘ĂȘtre’ (which ironically is one of the most used verbs in the French language) but I find that many students have issues with this verb! Note that it is indeed a very irregular verb, and furthermore, its pronunciation differs quite a lot between enunciated and modern French.

Follow this link to Camille’s free article where she recorded the modern and classical pronunciations of the various conjugations of the verb “to be” in French.

I think many people have trouble conjugating ‘ĂȘtre’ in the future and conditional tenses due to the fact it does not look at all like the verb in its infinitive form. Take a look:

Future

je serai
tu seras
il/elle/on sera
nous serons
vous serez
ils/elles seront

Conditional

je serais
tu serais
il/elle/on serait
nous serions
vous seriez
ils/elles seraient

It also looks quite ‘different’ in the present tense:

Present

je suis
tu es
il/elle est
nous sommes
vous ĂȘtes
ils/elles sont

This is a verb you must learn as you’ll use it all the time in French so spend as much time as you need on remembering all its forms, but start by knowing the most useful one: the present tense.

Aller (To Go)

Aller (to go) is another verb which causes issues amongst learners. Again it is an irregular verb and in the French future and conditional it ‘looks’ entirely different:

Future

j’irai
tu iras
il/elle/on ira
nous irons
vous irez
ils/elles iront

Conditional

j’irais
tu irais
il/elle/on irait
nous irions
vous iriez
ils/elles iraient

In the present tense it also changes quite a bit. When I work with students, they tend to forget completely how to conjugate ‘aller’ in the present tense (and it is a verb they use so so often in their French lessons).

Je vais, je vais, je vais !! Repetition, repetition, repetition!

Present

je vais
tu vas
il/elle/on va
nous allons
vous allez
ils/elles vont

Venir (To Come)

What’s frustrating with the -ir ending verbs is that you never know which ones are regular and which ones are irregular!

Venir (to come) is a very irregular verb that has its own conjugation rules. It its conjugated form in the present tense it looks like this:

Present

je viens
tu viens
il/elle/on vient
nous venons
vous venez
ils/elles viennent

This can be quite difficult to grasp at first for learners. The endings can be tricky to remember. Plus, , ‘venir’ is a MRS VANDERTRAMP verb – meaning it’s conjugated with ĂȘtre in the passĂ©-composĂ©.

Passé Composé

je suis venu
tu es venu
il/elle/on est venu/venue
nous sommes venus
vous ĂȘtes venus
ils/elles sont venus/venues

Trying to remember which verbs take ĂȘtre and which don’t is a common difficulty for French learners (if this is you, don’t worry – you aren’t alone! – and camille wrote an excellent article about it : follow this link to understand why French verb conjugate with ‘ĂȘtre’ rather than with ‘avoir’ in the passĂ© composĂ©:)

Pouvoir (can, Be Able To)

Pouvoir (can, to be able to) is another funny verb. Of course, it is a very commonly used verb, but it is highly irregular. Its most difficult conjugated forms to remember are the present tense and the passé composé.

Present

je peux
tu peux
il/elle/on peut
nous pouvons
vous pouvez
ils/elles peuvent

Weird looking, right?

Passé Composé

j’ai pu
tu as pu
il/elle/on a pu
nous avons pu
vous avez pu
ils/elles ont pu

Funny side note, the past participle “pu” sounds just like the present tense of the verb “puer” : “tu pues” which means ‘you stink’. It always made me laugh!

*Also note that the verb ‘vouloir’ (to want) follows the same conjugation patterns as ‘pouvoir’.

Voir (to see)

Our final tricky verb is ‘voir’ (to see). This verb changes significantly in both its future and conditional tense forms :

Future

je verrai
tu verras
il/elle/on verra
nous verrons
vous verrez
ils/elles verront

Conditional

je verrais
tu verrais
il/elle/on verrait
nous verrions
vous verriez
ils/elles verraient

Even though this verbs has a double R, remember the French R is not usually rolled: follow this link to Camille’s free article on how to pronounce the French R – with audio recordings.

“Voir” also has an interesting imperfect tense form: (note that it takes on a ‘y’)

Imperfect

je voyais
tu voyais
il/elle/on voyait
nous voyions
vous voyiez
ils/elles voyaient

I remember having a hard time remembering all the tenses for this verb!

As you can see from the list above, the most difficult to conjugate French verbs are all irregular.

Hopefully now that I have mentioned these specific verbs you will now focus on them and learn them so that they no longer give you as many problems.

What about you? Do you agree with my selection? What’s your ‘worst’ French verb to memorize? Do you have tips to share on how to memorize French verbs?

Author: Nicole

Nicole

I'm a language tutor and freelance writer from London. I have always been interested in all things language and culture related, so I studied French and Portuguese at University. I spent half of my year abroad in Paris which was amazing! Now I'm spreading my love for languages through writing!

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