The most common French verbs: 100 to learn first

100 common French verbs

Verbs are listed in the infinitive, the form you look up in a dictionary. This is the verb pack the Contos web app uses for flashcard review.

Which French verbs should you learn first?

The verbs you need most are irregular, so learn their present tense as a block. The list has être, avoir, aller, faire and vouloir, but not pouvoir (can) or devoir (must), because English "can" and "must" aren't infinitives. You'll need both from the first week.

Aller + infinitive is the easy way to talk about the future: je vais manger, I'm going to eat. Venir de + infinitive is the recent past: je viens de manger, I've just eaten.

The three verb groups: parler, finir, attendre

Most French verbs end in -er, and almost all of them are regular. Once you know parler, you know travailler, aimer, habiter, jouer and most of the sixty-odd -er verbs in this list; a few, like manger (nous mangeons) and acheter (j'achète), make small spelling changes. Four of its six present forms sound exactly the same: parle, parles, parle and parlent.

Prendre, apprendre and comprendre share their own pattern: je prends, nous prenons, ils prennent. Aller is the only -er verb that is fully irregular.

Verbs that take être in the past

In the passé composé most verbs use avoir (j'ai mangé), but verbs of coming and going use être, and the participle agrees: elle est arrivée, ils sont sortis. From this list: aller, venir, revenir, arriver, sortir, entrer and tomber, plus every reflexive verb, such as se lever and se souvenir.

One English verb, two French ones

Several English verbs split in two in French, and the list can only give you one side.

Savoir or connaître?

The list has savoir, to know a fact or how to do something: je sais, je ne sais pas. Knowing a person or a place is connaître, which is not in the list but is just as common.

• aimer with a person is to love: je t'aime. Aimer bien is weaker: je t'aime bien means I like you. With things, j'aime le café just means I like coffee.
• visiter is for places: visiter un musée. To visit a person, say rendre visite à or aller voir: je rends visite à ma grand-mère.
• demander is to ask, not to demand: demander l'heure, to ask the time.
• jouer à is for games and sports (jouer au foot), jouer de for instruments (jouer du piano).
• porter is to wear and to carry; voler is to fly and to steal.
• téléphoner à is correct, but people more often say appeler: je t'appelle ce soir.

When these are comfortable, move on to the 100 useful everyday French verbs, and see French daily routine vocabulary for reflexive verbs like se lever.