-IR verbs - Present Tense - Today’s French

Verbes qui se terminent en -IR and -OIR – Le présent en français

Part of Level 1 | French Present Tense

–IR - and –OIR - verbs in the present tense follow numerous patterns that can be learned by practicing a lot. That’s the only deal with conjugations in French. I don’t know of any other way to learn them. Practice, repeat, review.

This lesson walks you through the conjugation of verbs ending in –IR.

About Stems: You’ll see the word ‘STEM’ in this lesson. Sometimes, the stem is called the root or the beginning of a verb. In French the stem is ‘la racine’. It’s always good to know the stem of a verb, and it’s generally super easy to know what the stem is.

Ils choisissent la statuette. — They’re choosing the figurine.
Ils finissent leurs courses. — They’re finishing their errands.

The STEM is the infinitive verb without the ending. In our case, the endings are –IR or–OIR. As a result, the stem is: CHOIS(ir), FIN(ir)…

Most –IR verbs – general rules

Most –IR verbs - Most verbs ending in –IR have the following endings added to the stem:

singular

je FIN–is

tu FIN–is

elle FIN–it

il FIN–it

on FIN–it

plural

nous FIN–issons

vous FIN–issez

ils FIN–issent

elles FIN–issent

In context

Il obéit au chef. …. He follows the chef’s orders.
Je finis le gâteau. …. I am finishing the cake.
Nous choisissons un hôtel dans le 6ième arrondissement. …. We are choosing a hotel in the 6^th arrondissement.
Ils réfléchissent à l’offre. …. They are thinking about the offer.

The 10 most common verbs in this category are

choisir …. to choose
finir …. to finish
grandir …. to get bigger
obéir …. to follow so.’s order, to obey
punir …. to punish
réfléchir …. to think about, to ponder
remplir …. to fill
réunir …. to gather, to join, to reunite
réussir …. to succeed
saisir …. to seize, to type in

Practice - Exercice

Choose your Challenge

Print and translate the sentences from one language to the other. French to English (la version) is easier. English to French (la thèse) a bit more challenging.