Complete List of French Irregular Verbs

French has a small set of irregular verbs, and they are the verbs you use most: être, avoir, aller, pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, savoir. That is the good news and the bad news at once — you cannot avoid them, but learning them pays off in almost every sentence you say. This page lists every irregular verb in VerbFlow’s verified tables — 30 verbs — grouped by the pattern that makes them irregular, with a one-line note on each and a link to its full conjugation page. Learn the groups, not the list: a verb that follows the same pattern as one you already know costs almost nothing to learn.

What makes a verb irregular?

A verb is irregular when at least one of its forms cannot be built by adding the regular endings to the stem. Some verbs break the rules in one tense only — envoyer is regular everywhere except its future stem, enverr-. Some break them in several tenses — pouvoir is irregular in the present (peux), the passé simple (pus) and the future (pourrai). And a handful of verbs — être, avoir, aller — are irregular almost everywhere. The patterns below are the ones French grammars use to describe them, and the forms on this page come from VerbFlow’s verified tables, cross-checked against Reverso.

Totally irregular (10 verbs)

  • être — to be. totally irregular The most irregular French verb; also the auxiliary for être-verbs and all reflexives.
  • avoir — to have. totally irregular The default auxiliary for compound tenses; irregular in every tense.
  • aller — to go. totally irregular (three stems: vai-/all-/ir-) Present uses vai-/all-, future uses ir-; takes être in compound tenses.
  • pouvoir — to be able to, can. totally irregular (peux-/pouv-/pourr-/puiss-) No imperative (you cannot command 'can'); future stem pourr-.
  • vouloir — to want. totally irregular (veux-/voul-/voudr-/veill-) Subjunctive and imperative use veuill- (veuille, veuillez), not voul-. Familiar variant veux/voulez also exists (Reverso lists both); the table uses the standard veuille/veuillez.
  • devoir — to must, to owe. totally irregular (dois-/dev-/devr-/doiv-) Participle dû carries a circumflex (masculine singular); feminine is due.
  • savoir — to know. totally irregular (sais-/sav-/saur-/sach-) Subjunctive and imperative use sach- (sache), not sav-.
  • boire — to drink. totally irregular (bois-/buv-/boiv-) Present singular bois-/boit-, plural buv-; passé simple bus; participle bu.
  • croire — to believe. totally irregular (crois-/croy-/croiv-) Present singular crois-/croit-, plural croy-; passé simple crus; participle cru.
  • valoir — to be worth. totally irregular (vaux-/val-/vaudr-/vaill-) Present vaux/vaut/valons; subjunctive vaille; future vaudrai. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)

Aître verbs: present and passé simple irregular (7 verbs)

  • connaître — to know (a person/place). aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; rest regular Present connais/connaît, passé simple connus, participle connu. Imparfait, subjunctive, future and conditional are regular derivations.
  • reconnaître — to recognize. aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; rest regular Same pattern as connaître: reconnais/reconnaît, reconnus, reconnu. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • paraître — to appear, to seem. aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; rest regular Present paraîs/paraît (circumflex), passé simple parus, participle paru. Imperative drops the circumflex: parais. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • disparaître — to disappear. aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; rest regular Same pattern as paraître: disparaîs/disparaît, disparus, disparu. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • apparaître — to appear. aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; rest regular Same pattern as paraître: apparaîs/apparaît, apparus, apparu. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • naître — to be born. aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; takes être Present naîs/naît, passé simple naquis, participle né. Takes être in compound tenses.
  • accroître — to increase. aître verb: present + passé simple irregular; rest regular Present accroîs/accroît, passé simple accrus, participle accru. Imperative drops the circumflex: accrois. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)

Impersonal verbs: 3rd person singular only (2 verbs)

  • pleuvoir — to rain. impersonal: 3rd person singular only Weather verb — only 'il' forms exist; all other persons are '—'. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • falloir — to be necessary, must. impersonal: 3rd person singular only; no present participle Only 'il' forms exist; no present participle and no imperative. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)

Defective verbs: some tenses do not exist (5 verbs)

  • choir — to fall. defective: no passé simple, no imperfect subjunctive Literary verb; the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive do not exist (shown as '—'). Participle chu. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • frire — to fry. defective: singular-only present/future/conditional/imperative; no imparfait, no subjunctive, no gerund, no passé simple, no imperfect subjunctive (Reverso) Severely defective (Reverso 2026-11-10): only infinitive, participle frit, SINGULAR present (fris/frit), SINGULAR future (frirai) and conditional (frirais), singular imperative (fris), and compound tenses. No plural forms, no imparfait, no subjunctive, no present participle — plural is expressed with faire frire. Shown as '—'. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • clore — to close. defective: no passé simple, no imparfait (indicative or subjunctive); no nous/vous in present or imperative (Reverso) Literary verb (Reverso 2026-11-10): no passé simple, no imparfait, no imperfect subjunctive; present and imperative have no 1st/2nd person plural (je/tu/il/ils only: clos, clôt, closent; imperative tu clos only). Participle clos. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • absoudre — to absolve. defective: no passé simple, no imperfect subjunctive The passé simple and imperfect subjunctive do not exist (shown as '—'). Participle absous; résoudre is the regular 'soudre' pattern, not this table. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • ensuivre — to follow (from it), to ensue. defective: 3rd person only (il/ils); reflexive s'ensuivre Only il/ils forms exist in the SIMPLE tenses; all other persons are '—'. Compound tenses exist for all persons with être (pronominal s'ensuivre: je suis ensuivi…) and the participle is invariable (ensuivi for every person/gender — Reverso 2026-11-10). (Full conjugation page coming soon.)

Irregular future stem only (3 verbs)

  • envoyer — to send. -oyer verb with irregular future stem enverr- Present and subjunctive are regular -oyer (envoie, envoyons); only the future/conditional stem is irregular: enverrai, not *envoierai.
  • renvoyer — to send back, to dismiss. -oyer verb with irregular future stem renverr- Same as envoyer: present renvoie, future renverrai. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • prévoir — to foresee, to plan. -voir verb with irregular future stem prévoir- Present, passé simple and participle are regular -voir (prévois, prévis, prévu); only the future/conditional stem differs: prévoirai, not *préverrai (Reverso 2026-11-10). (Full conjugation page coming soon.)

Other irregular verbs (3 verbs)

  • dire — to say. *irregular: vous dites (not disez); compounds are regular -re Only dire itself is irregular (dites); redire, contredire, prédire, interdire, médire follow the regular -re pattern with -t (redit).
  • asseoir — to sit (down). irregular (assieds-/assey-/assiér-); the 'assois' variant also exists Two accepted present variants (assieds / assois); this table uses assieds, Reverso's first variant. Reflexive s'asseoir conjugates the same. (Full conjugation page coming soon.)
  • mourir — to die. irregular (meurs-/mour-/mourr-); takes être Present singular meurs-/meurt-, plural mour-; participle mort; takes être in compound tenses.

How to learn the irregular verbs

Do not try to memorise the list from top to bottom. Work in groups of five, one pattern at a time, and always in sentences. Start with the totally irregular verbs — être, avoir, aller — because they appear in almost every conversation: être is the verb for identity and the auxiliary for être-verbs, avoir is the default auxiliary for compound tenses, and aller is the verb for going and for the near future. Then take the aître verbs: learn connaître, paraître and naître together, as one circumflex pattern, and the rest of each verb follows the normal endings. Then the defective and impersonal verbs, which are easier than they look because the missing forms are forms you never need to produce — pleuvoir and falloir only ever appear as il pleut and il faut. Say each set aloud in order — je, tu, il, nous, vous, ils — three times, then write three sentences with the verb. Test yourself the next day before you learn the next group, and use the Irregular Verb Quiz and the Irregular Verb Finder to check what has stuck. A verb you can use in a sentence is learnt; a verb you can only recite is not.

Quiz: French irregular verbs

Eight questions on the irregular verbs. Answers with explanations follow each question. 1. What is the je form of être in the present tense?

  • A) sommes
  • B) est
  • C) suis
  • D) êtes

Answer: C — The je form in the present is suis. 2. What is the je form of avoir in the present tense?

  • A) avez
  • B) a
  • C) avons
  • D) ai

Answer: D — The je form in the present is ai. 3. What is the je form of aller in the future?

  • A) irai
  • B) irons
  • C) iras
  • D) irez

Answer: A — The je form in the future is irai. 4. What is the je form of pouvoir in the present tense?

  • A) pouvez
  • B) peut
  • C) peuvent
  • D) peux

Answer: D — The je form in the present is peux. 5. What is the je form of vouloir in the present tense?

  • A) veut
  • B) veux
  • C) voulons
  • D) veulent

Answer: B — The je form in the present is veux. 6. What is the vous form of dire in the present tense?

  • A) dites
  • B) dit
  • C) disent
  • D) dis

Answer: A — The vous form in the present is dites. 7. What is the je form of mourir in the present tense?

  • A) mourons
  • B) mourez
  • C) meurent
  • D) meurs

Answer: D — The je form in the present is meurs. 8. What is the je form of connaître in the present tense?

  • A) connaissent
  • B) connais
  • C) connaissons
  • D) connaît

Answer: B — The je form in the present is connais.

Frequently asked questions

How many irregular verbs are there in French?

It depends on how you count. VerbFlow’s verified tables list 30 verbs with at least one irregular form, from the totally irregular verbs to verbs like envoyer, which is regular except for its future stem enverr-. The important number is smaller: about ten verbs cover almost all the irregular forms you will ever need.

Should I learn the irregular verbs first?

Learn the totally irregular verbs first — être, avoir, aller — because they appear in almost every sentence. Then learn the regular patterns with verbs like parler and finir, and add the irregular groups one at a time: the aître verbs, the irregular future stems, and the defective verbs. The Verb Quiz lets you drill one group at a time.

What is an aître verb?

A verb whose infinitive ends in -aître: connaître, paraître, disparaître, apparaître, naître, accroître and reconnaître. Their present and passé simple are irregular — connais, connaît, connus — while the imperfect, subjunctive, future and conditional follow the regular pattern. The circumflex on the î is the visual clue.

Why do some verbs have no passé simple?

Some verbs are defective: their passé simple and imperfect subjunctive simply do not exist in modern French. Choir, clore, absoudre and frire are the examples in this list. You never need those forms, because French expresses the same ideas with other tenses — the passé composé above all.

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