Useful everyday French verbs: 100 more to learn

100 more useful French verbs

Verbs are in the infinitive; reflexive ones carry se or s'. They follow on from the 100 most common French verbs. The Contos web app reviews this pack as flashcards.

Which preposition goes with the verb?

Many of these verbs need à or de before what follows, and English is no guide: you trust "someone", but French fait confiance à quelqu'un. Learn each verb with its little word.

Frapper follows the same logic: you knock at the door, frapper à la porte.

Reflexive verbs: se cacher, s'inquiéter, se passer

Eleven verbs in this list are reflexive. Some exist with and without se, and the meaning shifts: cacher is to hide something, se cacher is to hide yourself.

S'allonger is to lie down, se détendre to relax, and être debout to be standing. Standing up, the movement, is se lever.

False friends and verbs French says its own way

Rester looks like rest, but it means to stay. Resting is se reposer.

• The list gives vouloir dire for to mean, because that is what French says in speech: qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ? (what does that mean?). Signifier is correct but formal.
• The list gives pratiquer for to practise, which is the verb for a language: je pratique mon français. For a sport or an instrument, say s'entraîner (to train).
• The list gives faire cuire au four for to bake, literally to make something cook in the oven: je fais cuire le pain au four. For a cake, you'll usually hear faire un gâteau.
• goûter is to taste, and le goûter is the afternoon snack French children have after school.
• rendre is to give back: je te rends ton livre. Gagner is to win and to earn.
• allumer is to light a candle and to switch on a light; éteindre switches it off.

Spelling changes and irregular forms

Several regular-looking verbs change their accent: préférer gives je préfère but nous préférons; enlever gives j'enlève. Verbs in -aître keep the circumflex before t: il reconnaît, il disparaît. And suivre (to follow) shares a form with être: je suis can mean I am or I follow, and only the sentence tells you which.