Key Irregular Verbs: avoir, être, aller, faire

Four verbs appear in almost every French sentence, and all four are irregular in the present tense: avoir (to have), être (to be), aller (to go) and faire (to do/make). They are worth more than any other verbs because each one does a second job:

• avoir and être are the two auxiliaries of the perfect tense (j'ai mangé, je suis allé).
• aller builds the near future (je vais partir = I am going to leave).
• faire covers weather and activities (il fait beau, je fais du sport).

There are no shortcuts: these forms must be memorised. The good news is that once you know them, you unlock the perfect tense, the near future, weather descriptions and dozens of set phrases.

Learn these four grids first. They carry more marks across all four papers than any regular verb.

avoir is the most common verb in French. Its forms look nothing like the infinitive, so learn them as a chant: ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont.

Person	avoir	English
j'	ai	I have
tu	as	you have
il/elle/on	a	he/she has
nous	avons	we have
vous	avez	you have
ils/elles	ont	they have

Worked examples:

• J'ai deux frères. — I have two brothers.
• Elle a un chat. — She has a cat.
• Ils ont une grande maison. — They have a big house.

Do not confuse ils ont (they have) with ils sont (they are). One letter changes the whole meaning.

être is the second auxiliary and the verb for describing people and things. Its forms are: suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont. Note the circumflex on vous êtes.

Person	être	English
je	suis	I am
tu	es	you are
il/elle/on	est	he/she is
nous	sommes	we are
vous	êtes	you are
ils/elles	sont	they are

Worked examples:

• Je suis anglais. — I am English.
• Nous sommes en retard. — We are late.
• Elles sont contentes. — They are happy.

The tu form es and the il form est sound the same but are spelled differently. In writing, tu es needs no -t; il est does.

aller looks like an -er verb but is wildly irregular: vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont. Only nous allons and vous allez keep the -er look.

Person	aller	English
je	vais	I go
tu	vas	you go
il/elle/on	va	he/she goes
nous	allons	we go
vous	allez	you go
ils/elles	vont	they go

Worked examples:

• Je vais au collège en bus. — I go to school by bus.
• Nous allons en France cet été. — We are going to France this summer.
• Ils vont au cinéma. — They are going to the cinema.

Followed by an infinitive, aller forms the near future: je vais manger (I am going to eat). That pattern has its own lesson.

faire means to do or to make, and appears in weather, sport and activity phrases. Forms: fais, fais, fait, faisons, faites, font. Two forms are traps: nous faisons (the -ai- sounds like "uh") and vous faites (not vous faisez).

Person	faire	English
je	fais	I do / make
tu	fais	you do / make
il/elle/on	fait	he/she does
nous	faisons	we do / make
vous	faites	you do / make
ils/elles	font	they do / make

Worked examples:

• Il fait beau aujourd'hui. — It is fine weather today.
• Je fais mes devoirs. — I do my homework.
• Nous faisons du sport le week-end. — We do sport at the weekend.

vous faites, vous êtes and vous dites (from dire) are the only verbs whose vous form ends in -tes rather than -ez. Learn them together.

Where English says I am hungry, French says I have hunger (j'ai faim). These fixed phrases use avoir, not être, and are tested constantly.

French	Literal	English meaning
avoir faim	to have hunger	to be hungry
avoir soif	to have thirst	to be thirsty
avoir chaud	to have heat	to be hot
avoir froid	to have cold	to be cold
avoir peur (de)	to have fear	to be afraid (of)
avoir raison	to have reason	to be right
avoir tort	to have wrong	to be wrong
avoir besoin de	to have need of	to need
avoir envie de	to have desire	to want / feel like
avoir ... ans	to have ... years	to be ... years old

Worked examples:

• J'ai quinze ans. — I am fifteen (years old).
• Nous avons faim. — We are hungry.
• Tu as raison. — You are right.

For age you must use avoir: j'ai quinze ans. Je suis quinze ans is a classic error and simply does not exist in French.

1. Confusing ils ont with ils sont

Ils ont means they have (avoir); ils sont means they are (être). The silent -s of sont is the only clue in speech, so read the sentence for meaning before choosing.

2. Writing vous faisez or vous disez

The vous form of faire is faites, not faisez. Alongside vous êtes, these -tes endings are irregular and must be learned as exceptions.

3. Using être for age and feelings

Age, hunger, thirst, heat, cold and fear all take avoir: j'ai froid, j'ai peur, j'ai treize ans. Using être here (je suis froid) means something different or nonsensical.

4. Treating aller as a regular -er verb

Aller is not regular. It is je vais, not j'alle. Only nous allons and vous allez resemble a normal -er verb.

5. Mixing up the auxiliaries in the perfect tense

Most verbs form the perfect tense with avoir (j'ai fait), but a set of movement verbs and all reflexives use être (je suis allé). Choosing the wrong auxiliary is a common perfect-tense error, covered fully in the perfect-tense lessons.