The 12 Most Common Irregular French Verbs

It can seem like there is an unlimited amount of verbs in French and the vast majority of them follow the simple regular rules of conjugation.

However, French doesn’t want to be that straightforward. You will very quickly notice that the verbs you need to use the most are irregular.

I have no idea why it’s like this, but it just is just this way. 

It can seem frustrating as a beginner as every time you want to say something you hit a road block as the verb you need is irregular.

The good thing is that these verbs are extremely common. You will see them multiple times a day.

The 12 I have picked are by no means the only 12. You could probably make this list the “100 most common irregular French verbs” and still have room for more.

I have tried to pick ones that you are going to want to use and you are going to see multiple times a day. Just think about your conversations in English and realise how many of these verbs you use daily.

If you learn these in French, you are going to be in a very good position for daily conversations.

*I have just added the present tense below, but you should really learn these verbs across a number of different tenses. – (You can read more about – The Main French Tenses You Need To Master)

1. Aller – To Go

Je vais	I go
Tu vas	You go
Il/elle va	He/she goes
Nous allons	We go
Vous allez	You go
Ils/elles vont	They go

Knowing this verb is actually going to unlock the future tense – Le Futur Porche, which is the near future. This is when you want to say “I am going to….”

I don’t think I need to explain how many times you are probably going to say something using this verb (See! I just did it there without even realising!)

This verb is everywhere in French, so the sooner you learn it, the better.

2. Avoir – To Have

J’ai	I have
Tu as	You have
Il/elle a	He/she has
Nous avons	We have
Vous avez	You have
Ils/elles ont	They have

Avoir is a massive verb in French; you will probably see it in every other sentence. It is very often used as an auxiliary verb, meaning it is joined up with another verb so that it makes more sense.

This is most commonly seen in the past tense – passé compose. It works exactly how it does in English allowing you to say things like “I have ate” for example.

You cannot escape avoir, you need to know this verb inside out, it really is important.

3. Etre – To Be

Je suis	I am
Tu est	You are
Il/ellle es	He/she is
Nous somes	We are
Vous être	You are
Ils/ells sont	They are

Etre is another massive verb; I believe it’s actually the most used verb, just beating avoir.

When you first look at Etre you might think “I’ve never said To Be anything” which is probably correct …but how many times have you said  “I am” or  “she is” or “they are” …because that is what it actually means. Now you can see exactly why this is the most common verb in French.

You really are not going to get far before you see this verb. It is everywhere. It is often used as an auxiliary verb too, which makes it even more common than it already is.

4. Faire – To Do

Je fais	I do
Tu fais	You do
Il/elle fait	He/she does
Nous faisons	We do
Vous faites	You do
Ils/elles  font	They do

Faire can mean “to do, or to make”, which sounds little strange in English, but you will see this all the time in French.

For example if you wanted to say “I am exercising” you would use Faire. You would say “Je fais de l’exercise”.

This roughly translates as “I do exercise” which is kind of weird for an English speaker to say. We would just say “I am exercising”

I know a lot of you are thinking why it is not Etre, which would be “je suis exercise – I am exercising”   This does translate as this… but its more saying “I am LITREALLY the exercise” … rather than, I am just doing some exercise.

So, hopefully that is not too confusing, but basically you will see Faire a lot in French.

5. Pouvoir – Can

Je peux	I can
Tu peux	You can
Il/elle peut	He/she can
Nous pouvons	We can
Vous pouvez	You can
Il/elle peuvent	They can

You will see pouvior appear pretty often in French. People will always be explaining how they can do something or how they want to do something, so it’s a good verb to know.

6. Vouloir – To Want

Je veux	I want
Tu veux	You want
Il/elle veut	He/she wants
Nous voulons	We want
Vous voulez	You want
Ils/ells veulent	They want

Vouloir is maybe not the most common verb in this list, but at the same time it is.

You are going to be using the verb anytime you or ordering anything, specifically in the present conditional form, “je voudrais” where you are sort of saying “I would want”, which is a bit more polite and less aggressive than just “I want”.

(We really translate it to “I would like” but the concept is still the same, it’s politer than saying “I want”)

7. Savior – To Know

Je sais	I know
Tu sais	You know
Il/elle sait	He/she knows
Nous savons	We know
Vous savez	You know
Ils/ells savent	They know

Savoir is a verb that is going to help you in a lot in conversations; it is a very versatile verb and you will see it appearing a lot in daily life, so it’s important you know it well.

8. Croire – To Believe 

Je crois	I believe
Tu crois	You believe
Il/elle croit	He/she believes
Nous croyons	We believe
Vous croyez	You believe
Ils croients	They believe

Croire is a great verb to know and is going to really allow you to express opinions. You will see this verb pop up very often when people are talking so you will want to make sure you know it.

9. Devoir – Must

Je dois	I must
Tu dois	You must
Il/elle doit	He/she must
Nous devons	We must
Vous devez	You must
Ils/ells doivent	They must

The French use devoir a lot. It can almost be used more like “I have to” or “I really need to” and is very commonly used for anything that is an more of an obligation such as “having to work” so you will see this verb daily for sure.

10. Boire – To Drink

Je bois	I drink
Tu bois	You drink
Il/elle boit	He/she drinks
Nous buvons	We drink
Vous buvez	You drink
Ils/ells boivent	They drink

We all have to drink every day, it is a basic need, so it’s pretty important you know the word for it in French. 

You are going to hear it every meal time, so you are going to learn it pretty quickly and it should be high on your list of words you need to know.

11. Voir – To See

Je vois	I see
Tu vois	You see
Il/elle voit	He/she sees
Nous voyons	We see
Vous voyez	You see
Ils/ells voient	They see

Vior is always appearing in every day French speech, much in the same way it will in English, so you can understand why it is a common verb.

It is particularly common in the past tense when telling stories, which is exactly why you need to make sure you know it well.

12. Dire – To Say

Je dis	I say
Tu dis	You say
Il/elle dit	He/she says
Nous disons	We say
Vous dites	You say
Ils/ells disent	They say

You are going to need to know Dire so you can talk about other people when you are telling stories and express what “they said”

This is a great verb to know and will really expand you ability to communicate in French.

Recognising The Irregular Verbs In French

Regular verbs are easy to spot, they are 90% the same as the infinitive and the ending will just be a little different.

When it comes to irregular verbs it can be a little tricky to recognise them. They can look very different to the infinitive.

If we look at the verb Aller, you would expect the verb to look something like “Je alle” if it was a regular, well …since it’s not, it actually looks like this – “Je vais” 

You can quickly see how that is a problem. You are going to have no idea what that verb is unless you know it, which is exactly why you need to sit down and learn these irregular verbs.

How To Learn The Irregular French Verbs

Sadly the there is no easy answer to this, you just need to sit down and learn them all.

Regular verbs are great you just need to memorise the endings and then you have unlocked thousands of verbs. Irregular don’t work that way.

Of course some of the irregular verbs follow a sort of pattern, but basically you just need to take the individual verb and learn it so that it is ingrained on your memory.

Just sit down and learn one verb a day, in less than two weeks you will have mastered all the ones on this list and will be in a much stronger position with your French.

These verbs are everywhere; it’s worth the effort to memorise them all by heart.  

Conclusion

Irregular verbs are annoying as a beginner and you can easily become overwhelmed by them.

Just sit down and learn them by heart. You will very quickly start noticing them everywhere you look and you will start to feel a lot more comfortable with them pretty quickly, especially if you put the effort in to memorising them.

They really are common and they are really worth learning. You may hate them now, but soon they will be your best friends.

You might also be interested in reading about – 20 Common French Regular Verbs To Master

(If you are wanting to learn French you can check out my unofficial French Course and get a grasp of the basic structure of the language)