French irregular verbs are the part of the language almost every learner dreads — and almost every learner exaggerates how difficult they are. Yes, there are several hundred irregular verbs in French. But in everyday speech, just 20 verbs account for roughly 80% of all verb usage. Master those 20, and you can communicate effectively at A2–B1 level.
This guide — built from the experience of our DELF-certified French faculty — gives you the patterns, the memory techniques, and the prioritised approach that actually works.
Why Irregular Verbs Are Non-Negotiable in French
Unlike regular -ER verbs (like parler, manger, travailler) which follow a predictable pattern, irregular verbs change their stems in ways that cannot be derived from the infinitive. The most essential French verbs — être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), faire (to do/make), venir (to come) — are all irregular.
Trying to avoid irregular verbs means avoiding the core of French communication. They appear in every tense, every mood, and every conversation. The sooner you master them, the faster everything else in French falls into place — because these verbs are also used as auxiliary verbs to form compound tenses.
The 20 Most Important Irregular Verbs (Prioritised)
| Rank | Verb | Meaning | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | être | to be | Core identity verb; auxiliary for passé composé with movement/state verbs |
| 2 | avoir | to have | Primary auxiliary for passé composé; core possession verb |
| 3 | aller | to go | Forms the immediate future (futur proche) with infinitive |
| 4 | faire | to do / make | Used in hundreds of fixed expressions (faire du sport, faire attention) |
| 5 | pouvoir | to be able to | Essential modal verb for all permissions and abilities |
| 6 | vouloir | to want | Essential modal for desires, requests (je voudrais = polite form) |
| 7 | devoir | must / to owe | Modal for obligations and probability |
| 8 | savoir | to know (facts) | Distinct from connaître; used for skills and information |
| 9 | venir | to come | Forms passé récent (venir de + infinitive); movement verb |
| 10 | prendre | to take | Core movement verb; base for comprendre, apprendre, surprendre |
| 11 | mettre | to put / to take (time) | Common in everyday and professional contexts |
| 12 | voir | to see | Perception verb; frequent in conversation |
| 13 | dire | to say / to tell | Essential for reported speech and conversation |
| 14 | partir | to leave / depart | Movement verb; conjugates with être in passé composé |
| 15 | sortir | to go out | Social and movement contexts; être auxiliary |
Être and Avoir: The Foundation Verbs
These two verbs must be memorised completely and immediately. They are not just important standalone verbs — they are the building blocks of the passé composé (the most common past tense in spoken French), the conditional, the subjunctive, and many other structures.
| Pronoun | être (to be) | avoir (to have) |
|---|---|---|
| je | suis | ai |
| tu | es | as |
| il/elle | est | a |
| nous | sommes | avons |
| vous | êtes | avez |
| ils/elles | sont | ont |
Write être and avoir on a small card and stick it somewhere you look every day — above your desk, next to your mirror. Read through the conjugation aloud twice a day for two weeks. This passive exposure, combined with active use in sentences, is the fastest way to internalise these forms permanently.
Hidden Patterns in Irregular Verbs
The encouraging truth: many "irregular" verbs share patterns. Recognise these families and you learn multiple verbs at once:
- -PRENDRE family: prendre, comprendre, apprendre, surprendre, entreprendre — all conjugate identically to prendre.
- -VENIR / -TENIR family: venir, devenir, revenir, tenir, obtenir, maintenir — same pattern throughout.
- -METTRE family: mettre, permettre, promettre, remettre, soumettre — identical conjugation.
- -PARTIR / -SORTIR / -DORMIR: all follow the same -IR pattern: drop the last three letters of the stem in singular forms.
Learning prendre means you have simultaneously learned comprendre (to understand), apprendre (to learn), and surprendre (to surprise). This family approach dramatically reduces the apparent complexity of irregular verbs.
Memory Techniques That Work
1. Sentence anchoring: Rather than memorising je fais, tu fais, il fait as a list, create a personal sentence for each form: Je fais du yoga. Tu fais quoi ce weekend? Attach conjugations to meaning and context, not abstract lists.
2. Spaced repetition: Use Anki or Quizlet with a French irregular verb deck. Spaced repetition shows you struggling forms more frequently than mastered ones — the most efficient memory consolidation method available.
3. Verb conjugation songs: YouTube has several French teacher-created songs for être and avoir conjugations. Slightly embarrassing to watch alone — very effective for long-term retention.
4. Read and recognise: When you read French, highlight every irregular verb form you encounter. Seeing il a dit in context ten times is more memorable than writing the conjugation table once.
Common Mistakes Indian Learners Make
- Confusing savoir and connaître: Both mean "to know" — but savoir is for facts and skills (je sais nager) and connaître is for familiarity with people and places (je connais Paris).
- Using avoir instead of être in passé composé: The 17 "être verbs" (movement and state-change verbs: aller, venir, partir, arriver, naître, mourir, etc.) take être as the auxiliary, not avoir. The agreement with subject gender and number is also required.
- Forgetting the irregular past participles: être → été; avoir → eu; faire → fait; prendre → pris; voir → vu; dire → dit. These must be memorised individually — they do not follow any pattern.
For more on French grammar fundamentals, see our French grammar guide for beginners. For practice at B1–B2 level, our intermediate French guide includes verb exercises in context.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are approximately 350–400 irregular verbs in French. However, the 20 most common irregular verbs account for the vast majority of actual verb usage in everyday conversation. Focus on mastering these 20 first — particularly être, avoir, aller, faire, pouvoir, and vouloir — before expanding to less frequent verbs.
Most learners find the subjunctive forms of irregular verbs the most challenging — particularly être (soit), avoir (ait), and faire (fasse) in the subjunctive mood. For regular conversational French at A2–B1, the present tense forms are the priority. Subjunctive irregular forms become relevant at B2 level.
Tables are useful as reference material, not as a primary learning tool. More effective approaches include: sentence anchoring (learning conjugations in meaningful contexts), spaced repetition with Anki, recognising verb families (prendre/comprendre/apprendre), and extensive reading where you see forms in authentic use repeatedly.
DR MRS VANDERTRAMP is a mnemonic for the 17 verbs that take être (not avoir) as the auxiliary in passé composé: Descendre, Rester, Monter, Revenir, Sortir, Venir, Aller, Naître, Devenir, Entrer, Rentrer, Tomber, Retourner, Arriver, Mourir, Partir. All reflexive verbs also take être.
The 20 most essential irregular verbs can be fully internalised in 4–6 weeks with daily practice. A broader working knowledge of 100 irregular verbs typically takes 6–9 months of consistent study. Complete mastery comes through extensive reading and conversation over 12–18 months.