The three stem group
Seven of the ten irregular verbs share one shape, they have three stem forms for these:
- one for
je / tu / il - one for
nous / vous - one for
ils
The verb in this group and their meaning:
| Verb | Meaning | Notes on use |
|---|---|---|
| venir | to come | also builds passé récent: venir de + inf = “just did” |
| prendre | to take | also eat/drink (prendre un café) and transport (prendre le métro) |
| devoir | to have to / must | also “to owe” money |
| vouloir | to want | |
| pouvoir | to be able to / can | |
| voir | to see | |
| savoir | to know | facts and skills — je sais nager, I know how to swim |
The stems:
| Verb | je/tu/il | nous/vous | ils |
|---|---|---|---|
| venir | vien- | ven- | vienn- |
| prendre | prend- | pren- | prenn- |
| devoir | doi- | dev- | doiv- |
| vouloir | veu- | voul- | veul- |
| pouvoir | peu- | pouv- | peuv- |
| voir | voi- | voy- | voi- |
| savoir | sai- | sav- | sav- |
These verbs change their stems based on the pronoun.
Then the three odds ones are:
| Verb | Meaning | Notes on use |
|---|---|---|
| mettre | to put | also to wear (mettre un manteau) and to take time (ça met une heure) |
| faire | to do / to make | huge range: weather (il fait froid), activities (faire du sport), causation |
| aller | to go | also builds futur proche: aller + inf = “going to” |
The important one that you should already know:
| Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| être | to be |
| avoir | to have |