Learn the Present tense of French Irregular -IR ending Verbs

Hey guys !

First, have you already learned how to conjugate regular -IR ending verbs in French ? No ? What a shame! Get that done now and then come back to this page. Already done ? Great, read on then ! It’s time for you to have a look at irregular -IR ending verbs. I’m sorry to say there are a few of them. But this is all good, just take it as yet another opportunity to enrich your vocabulary ! I have organized the verbs in groups according to their conjugations. You’ll see, that should ease your memory.

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1^st group of irregular -IR verbs: courir, dormir, partir, sortir etc.

In this first group of verb, notice the pattern in the endings of the conjugated verbs (-s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent)

PARTIR (to leave)

Je pars

Tu pars

Il/elle/on part

Nous partons

Vous partez

Ils/elles partent

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SENTIR (to feel)                              SORTIR (to go out)

Je sens                                         Je sors

Tu sens                                         Tu sors

Il/elle/on sent                                Il/elle/on sort

Nous sentons                               Nous sortons

Vous sentez                                  Vous sortez

Ils/elles sentent                            Ils/elles sortent

MOURIR (to die)

Je meurs

Tu meurs

Il/elle/on meurt

Nous mourons

Vous mourez

Ils/elles meurent

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2^nd Group of irregular -IR verbs: couvrir, offrir, ouvrir etc.

Onto the next group of irregular -IR ending verbs now. These new ones are actually conjugated like -ER ending verbs. Hope you know your -ER ending verbs lesson on the present tense…

Here’s the list : COUVRIR (to cover), DÉCOUVRIR (to discover), OFFRIR (to offer), OUVRIR (to open), SOUFFRIR (to suffer)

I’m just going to write out a couple of them here. That should be enough for you to get the hang of it.

OUVRIR (to open)                       OFFRIR (to offer)

J’ouvrE                                        J’offrE

Tu ouvrES                                   Tu offrES

Il/elle/on ouvrE                            Il/elle/on offrE

Nous ouvrONS                           Nous offrONS

Vous ouvrEZ                               Vous offrEZ

Ils/elles ouvrENT                        Ils/elles offrENT

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3^rd Group: Tenir & Venir in the present tense

This last group of -IR ending verbs has an extra irregularity in their « NOUS » and « VOUS » forms. They include the verbs TENIR (to hold) & VENIR (to come) along with their derivatives. The list includes: DEVENIR (to become), MAINTENIR (to maintain), RETENIR (to keep/retain), REVENIR (to come back).

TENIR (to hold)                             VENIR (to come)

Je tiens                                         Je viens

Tu tiens                                         Tu viens

Il/elle/on tient                                Il/elle/on vient

Nous tenons                                  Nous venons

Vous tenez                                    Vous venez

Ils/elles tiennent                           Ils/elles viennent

Good luck memorizing them all !