Common Irregular Verbs: aller, faire, venir

Some of the most frequently used French verbs are irregular — they do not follow the standard -er, -ir, or -re conjugation patterns. This lesson covers three essential irregular verbs: aller (to go), faire (to do/make), and venir (to come). These are verbs you will use in virtually every French conversation.

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Aller — To Go

Aller is one of the most common verbs in French. Despite ending in -er, it is completely irregular.

Present Tense Conjugation

Subject	Conjugation	Pronunciation
je	vais	"veh"
tu	vas	"vah"
il/elle/on	va	"vah"
nous	allons	"ah-LOHN"
vous	allez	"ah-LAY"
ils/elles	vont	"vohn"

Key Uses of Aller

1. Movement — Going somewhere:

• Je vais à l'école. — I go to school.
• Nous allons au cinéma. — We go to the cinema.
• Elle va en France. — She goes to France.
• Ils vont chez Pierre. — They go to Pierre's place.

2. Asking and answering "How are you?":

• Comment allez-vous ? — How are you? (formal)
• Comment vas-tu ? — How are you? (informal)
• Ça va ? — How's it going?
• Je vais bien, merci. — I'm fine, thank you.

3. The near future (futur proche) — Going to do something: Aller + infinitive = going to (do something). This is the most common way to express the near future in spoken French.

• Je vais manger. — I'm going to eat.
• Tu vas partir ? — Are you going to leave?
• Il va pleuvoir. — It's going to rain.
• Nous allons visiter Paris. — We're going to visit Paris.
• Elles vont arriver bientôt. — They're going to arrive soon.

Prepositions with Aller

Destination	Preposition	Example
Masculine country	au	Je vais au Japon.
Feminine country / vowel	en	Je vais en France. / en Italie.
Plural country	aux	Je vais aux États-Unis.
City	à	Je vais à Paris.
Someone's home	chez	Je vais chez Marie.

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Faire — To Do / To Make

Faire is one of the most versatile verbs in French. It means "to do" or "to make" but is also used in countless fixed expressions.

Present Tense Conjugation

Subject	Conjugation	Pronunciation
je	fais	"feh"
tu	fais	"feh"
il/elle/on	fait	"feh"
nous	faisons	"fuh-ZOHN"
vous	faites	"feht"
ils/elles	font	"fohn"

Pronunciation note: Nous faisons is pronounced "fuh-ZOHN" (the ai here sounds like a schwa "uh," which is unusual). Vous faites is completely irregular in its ending (-tes instead of the expected -ez).

Key Uses of Faire

1. Doing/Making:

• Je fais mes devoirs. — I do my homework.
• Elle fait un gâteau. — She makes a cake.
• Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? — What are you doing?
• Nous faisons la cuisine. — We do the cooking. / We cook.

2. Weather expressions (il fait + adjective/noun):

• Il fait beau. — The weather is nice.
• Il fait chaud. — It's hot.
• Il fait froid. — It's cold.
• Il fait mauvais. — The weather is bad.
• Il fait du soleil. — It's sunny.
• Il fait du vent. — It's windy.