Amélie · Learn French Learn French — Guides & Tips 25 Most Common French Verbs (With Present-Tense Conjugations)
The most common French verbs are être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), and faire (to do/make) — four irregular workhorses that appear in a huge share of everything French people say. Master those four plus the twenty-one verbs below, and you can build the majority of everyday sentences: what you want, where you’re going, what you’re doing, what you like.
This guide gives you the full present-tense conjugation of the big four, the pattern that unlocks regular verbs, and the complete top-25 list with pronunciation and a real example for each. A register note before we start: in spoken Parisian French, nous is largely replaced by on (oh(n)) — on va au cinéma (“we’re going to the movies”) — which conveniently takes the same verb form as il/elle. One less ending to memorize.
The big four: être, avoir, aller, faire
These four are irregular, unavoidable, and — bonus — they’re also the machinery behind other tenses (j’ai mangé, je vais partir). Learn them cold.
Être — to be (EH-truh)
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | suis | zhuh SWEE |
| tu | es | tew EH |
| il/elle/on | est | eel EH |
| nous | sommes | noo SOHM |
| vous | êtes | voo ZEHT |
| ils/elles | sont | eel SOH(N) |
Je suis fatigué (zhuh swee fah-tee-GAY) — “I’m tired,” the most Parisian sentence in existence. Note that es and est sound identical: “eh.”
Avoir — to have (ah-VWAHR)
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| j’ | ai | zhay |
| tu | as | tew AH |
| il/elle/on | a | eel AH |
| nous | avons | noo zah-VOH(N) |
| vous | avez | voo zah-VAY |
| ils/elles | ont | eel ZOH(N) |
Avoir hides a trap for English speakers: French has hunger, thirst, and age rather than being them. J’ai faim (zhay FEH(N)) — “I’m hungry.” J’ai soif — “I’m thirsty.” J’ai trente ans — “I’m thirty.” Saying je suis faim is the classic beginner error — it literally means “I am hunger.”
Aller — to go (ah-LAY)
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | vais | zhuh VAY |
| tu | vas | tew VAH |
| il/elle/on | va | eel VAH |
| nous | allons | noo zah-LOH(N) |
| vous | allez | voo zah-LAY |
| ils/elles | vont | eel VOH(N) |
Aller does double duty: movement (je vais à Paris) and the near future (je vais manger — “I’m going to eat”), which is how French people actually talk about future plans in conversation. It’s also the verb inside ça va — literally “it goes.”
Faire — to do / to make (FEHR)
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | fais | zhuh FEH |
| tu | fais | tew FEH |
| il/elle/on | fait | eel FEH |
| nous | faisons | noo fuh-ZOH(N) |
| vous | faites | voo FEHT |
| ils/elles | font | eel FOH(N) |
Faire is everywhere idioms live: il fait beau (the weather’s nice), faire du sport (to exercise), faire les courses (to do the grocery shopping), ça fait combien ? (how much is it?). When in doubt about which verb an activity takes, faire is a solid bet.
The -er pattern: one template, thousands of verbs
Roughly 90% of French verbs end in -er and conjugate exactly like parler (to speak):
| Person | Ending | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | -e | parle | zhuh PARL |
| tu | -es | parles | tew PARL |
| il/elle/on | -e | parle | eel PARL |
| nous | -ons | parlons | noo par-LOH(N) |
| vous | -ez | parlez | voo par-LAY |
| ils/elles | -ent | parlent | eel PARL |
Here’s the wonderful secret the table hides: four of the six forms sound identical. Parle, parles, parle, parlent — all simply “PARL,” because those endings are silent (the -ent verb ending is always, 100% silent — more on that in my guide to French pronunciation). Out loud, a regular -er verb has only three forms to learn: PARL, par-LOH(N), par-LAY. French conjugation is dramatically easier spoken than written.
Every -er verb in the list below — aimer, parler, donner, trouver, penser and friends — follows this exact template.
The top 25, with examples
| # | Verb | Pronunciation | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | être | EH-truh | to be | Je suis américain. — I’m American. |
| 2 | avoir | ah-VWAHR | to have | Tu as l’heure ? — Do you have the time? |
| 3 | aller | ah-LAY | to go | On va au café ? — Shall we go to the café? |
| 4 | faire | FEHR | to do / make | Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? — What are you doing? |
| 5 | dire | DEER | to say | Comment dit-on… ? — How do you say…? |
| 6 | pouvoir | poo-VWAHR | can / to be able | Je peux payer par carte ? — Can I pay by card? |
| 7 | vouloir | voo-LWAHR | to want | Je veux apprendre. — I want to learn. |
| 8 | savoir | sah-VWAHR | to know (facts) | Je ne sais pas. — I don’t know. |
| 9 | voir | VWAHR | to see | On se voit demain ? — See each other tomorrow? |
| 10 | devoir | duh-VWAHR | must / to have to | Je dois partir. — I have to go. |
| 11 | venir | vuh-NEER | to come | Tu viens d’où ? — Where are you from? |
| 12 | prendre | PRAH(N)-druh | to take / have (food) | Je prends un café. — I’ll have a coffee. |
| 13 | parler | par-LAY | to speak | Vous parlez anglais ? — Do you speak English? |
| 14 | aimer | eh-MAY | to like / love | J’aime bien ce quartier. — I like this neighborhood. |
| 15 | passer | pah-SAY | to pass / spend (time) | On passe une bonne soirée. — We’re having a nice evening. |
| 16 | mettre | MEH-truh | to put | Je mets du sucre ? — Shall I put sugar in? |
| 17 | donner | doh-NAY | to give | Tu me donnes ton numéro ? — Will you give me your number? |
| 18 | trouver | troo-VAY | to find | Je trouve ça super. — I think that’s great. |
| 19 | penser | pah(n)-SAY | to think | Qu’est-ce que tu en penses ? — What do you think? |
| 20 | connaître | koh-NEH-truh | to know (people/places) | Tu connais ce resto ? — Do you know this restaurant? |
| 21 | manger | mah(n)-ZHAY | to eat | On mange ensemble ? — Shall we eat together? |
| 22 | boire | BWAHR | to drink | Tu bois quelque chose ? — Are you drinking something? |
| 23 | habiter | ah-bee-TAY | to live (somewhere) | J’habite à Paris. — I live in Paris. |
| 24 | comprendre | koh(n)-PRAH(N)-druh | to understand | Je ne comprends pas. — I don’t understand. |
| 25 | attendre | ah-TAH(N)-druh | to wait | Attends, deux secondes ! — Wait, two seconds! |
Three usage notes worth their weight in croissants:
- Savoir vs connaître both mean “to know,” but savoir is for facts and skills (je sais nager — I know how to swim) while connaître is for people and places (je connais Marie). English merges them; French never does.
- Prendre is the food verb. At a café you take your order: je prends un croissant. It sounds odd in English and perfectly natural in French — you’ll hear it at every table around you.
- Trouver means “to think” in opinions. Je trouve ça cher — “I find that expensive” — is how Parisians deliver judgments, and they deliver many.
You’ll notice half the example sentences double as introductions and small talk — that’s not an accident. See them working together in how to introduce yourself in French and in my list of the 100 most common French phrases.
How to actually learn these (without conjugation tables haunting your dreams)
- Learn je/tu/on forms first. Real conversation is overwhelmingly “I,” “you,” and “we/one.” Nous forms can wait — spoken French barely uses them.
- Drill out loud, not on paper. Since four written forms of -er verbs share one sound, writing drills overstate the difficulty. Say full sentences: je parle, tu parles, on parle.
- Steal the sentence, not the verb. Memorize je prends un café, not “prendre = to take.” Verbs stick when they’re attached to situations you’ll actually be in.
- Use each verb in a real exchange within 24 hours. A verb you’ve deployed in conversation is a verb you own; a verb you’ve only conjugated is a verb you’ll relearn. If daily French conversation sounds out of reach, it’s more accessible than you think — see the best way to learn French for how to build speaking into your routine from day one.
FAQ
What are the most common French verbs?
The top four by frequency are être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), and faire (to do/make) — all irregular, all essential. Rounding out the top ten: dire (to say), pouvoir (can), vouloir (to want), savoir (to know), voir (to see), and devoir (must). These ten appear constantly in everyday speech, which is exactly why they’ve stayed irregular — words used that often resist simplification.
How many French verbs do I need to know to have a conversation?
Around 25–50 well-chosen verbs cover basic daily conversation, and the 25 in this guide are the core. Combined with the near-future trick (aller + infinitive: je vais manger), you can talk about present and future plans without learning any new conjugations. Depth beats breadth: knowing faire and its twenty idioms outperforms knowing a hundred rare verbs.
Why are the most common French verbs irregular?
High-frequency words get worn smooth by centuries of daily use and resist the regularizing pressure that tidies up rarer verbs — the same reason English kept “is/was/been” and “go/went.” The practical upshot: memorize the big four individually, then relax, because the overwhelming majority of remaining verbs follow the regular -er pattern.
Do I need to learn all six conjugation forms?
On paper yes, out loud barely. For regular -er verbs, je/tu/il/ils forms are pronounced identically, and spoken French replaces nous with on (which uses the il form) — so in conversation you’re really juggling three sounds per verb. Prioritize je, tu, and on: they carry almost all real dialogue.
What’s the difference between savoir and connaître?
Both translate as “to know,” but they split the territory. Savoir covers facts, information, and skills: je sais où c’est (I know where it is), elle sait conduire (she knows how to drive). Connaître covers familiarity with people, places, and things: je connais Paul, tu connais Montmartre ? Rule of thumb: if you could replace “know” with “be familiar with,” use connaître.