Irregular Verbs in French

What is an irregular verb in French?

A regular French verb follows a predictable pattern: you remove the infinitive ending and add endings that depend on the verb’s group and the subject. An irregular verb does not follow those patterns completely. Its stem may change, its endings may differ, or both. You have to learn the forms individually, at least until you spot the patterns that many of them share.

The tricky part is that the irregular verbs include some of the most common ones in the language, so you meet them from your very first lessons.

The three verb groups

French verbs are traditionally sorted into three groups according to their infinitive:

1. First group: verbs ending in -er, such as parler (to speak). This is the largest group and is regular, with the exception of aller, which is counted as irregular.
2. Second group: regular verbs ending in -ir that form the plural stem with -iss-, such as finir (to finish): nous finissons.
3. Third group: everything else. This includes verbs ending in -ir that do not follow the -iss- pattern (partir, dormir), verbs ending in -re (prendre, dire), verbs ending in -oir (pouvoir, vouloir), and aller.

When people say “irregular verbs”, they usually mean the third group. Even within it, many verbs have mini-patterns, which makes the job easier.

Four essential verbs

These four appear everywhere, and both as main verbs and as auxiliaries for forming other tenses. Learn them first.

Examples:

• Je suis fatigué. (I am tired.)
• Nous avons deux enfants. (We have two children.)
• Ils vont au marché. (They are going to the market.)
• Vous faites du sport ? (Do you play sports?)

More verbs you will use constantly

Examples:

• Je peux vous aider ? (Can I help you?)
• Elles veulent partir. (They want to leave.)
• Nous devons finir ce travail. (We must finish this work.)
• Tu viens avec nous ? (Are you coming with us?)

Notice the stem change between singular and plural in many of these: je peux but nous pouvons; je prends but nous prenons. These “boot” patterns, with one stem for the singular and third-person plural and another for nous and vous, appear again and again.

Patterns by ending

Seeing the groups helps you generalize:

• -re verbs such as prendre, mettre and dire often lose or change a consonant in the singular: je prends, il prend; je mets, il met. In the plural the full stem returns: nous prenons, nous mettons.
• -ir verbs of the third group such as partir, sortir and dormir drop the last consonant of the stem in the singular: je pars, tu pars, il part, but nous partons.
• -oir verbs such as pouvoir, vouloir and devoir have a stem change between singular and plural, and an -x or -s in the first and second person singular (je peux, tu veux, je dois).

How to conjugate French IR verbs

Not all -ir verbs behave the same way, so check which type you have.

Regular -ir verbs (second group) add -iss- in the plural and in the third person:

Other verbs that work this way include choisir (to choose), réussir (to succeed) and grandir (to grow).

Irregular -ir verbs (third group) do not use -iss-:

Sortir (to go out) follows the same pattern as partir: je sors, nous sortons. Venir (to come) is also third group but has its own forms: je viens, nous venons, ils viennent.

A quick test: if the nous form ends in -issons, it is a regular second-group verb. If not, it is probably a third-group verb.

Is acheter an irregular verb?

Acheter (to buy) ends in -er, so it belongs to the first group and takes regular endings. However, it has a spelling change in the stem when the ending is silent: j’achète, tu achètes, il achète, ils achètent, but nous achetons and vous achetez. Some textbooks label verbs like this “regular with spelling changes”, while others loosely call them irregular. The practical advice is the same: learn the pattern once. Other verbs that behave like acheter include lever (je lève) and promener (je promène). By contrast, appeler doubles its consonant (j’appelle), and manger adds an e in the nous form (nous mangeons).

Which are the most used verbs?

Frequency lists differ depending on whether they count written or spoken French, so I would avoid claiming a precise “top 20”. But the verbs that appear among the most common ones in any list include:

être, avoir, aller, faire, pouvoir, vouloir, savoir, devoir, venir, prendre, dire, voir, mettre, donner, parler, aimer, passer, falloir, croire, trouver.

Most of the first dozen are irregular, so mastering them gives you a large return. If you want to practice them in writing, see our guide on how to improve your French writing.

Past participles and future stems

To form the passé composé (the most common past tense in speech) you need the past participle, and several of these are irregular too:

Examples:

• J’ai été malade. (I was ill.)
• Elle a fait un gâteau. (She made a cake.)
• Je ferai de mon mieux. (I will do my best.)
• Ils iront à Paris l’été prochain. (They will go to Paris next summer.)

Aller and venir use être as their auxiliary: Je suis allé au marché (I went to the market), Elle est venue hier (She came yesterday).

How to study irregular verbs

• Start small. Learn être, avoir, aller and faire in the present tense before adding more.
• Learn them in sentences. Je vais au travail is easier to remember than vais alone.
• Group them by pattern. Studying partir, sortir and dormir together saves effort.
• Use spaced repetition. Short, frequent reviews beat long cramming sessions, as our piece on the importance of review in learning explains. A ready-made French Anki deck can save you the setup time.
• Say them aloud. Many forms sound alike in speech, such as je fais and il fait, so practice helps you notice where spelling matters.
• Use them in your own writing. A daily diary with irregular verbs reinforces them naturally.

Pairing verbs with nouns is easier once you know your articles. If those are still shaky, review the French indefinite articles list alongside this one.