in the present and passé composé
In French there are several types of -ir verbs. The first type of regular -ir verbs add -iss- in the plural nous, vous and ils/elles forms.
The second type omit the -iss- in the plural forms and can therefore be called irregular. In addition, the rather than -is, -is, -it, the je, tu and il/elle forms end in -s, -s, -t. Hence, in a lot of my online lessons I call these verbs, “-s, -s, -t” -ir verbs. Note that the past participles for these verbs do not follow a set pattern.
The following verbs follow this pattern.
| DORMIR TO SLEEP | SORTIR TO GO OUT | PARTIR TO LEAVE | COURIR TO RUN |
| je dors tu dors il dort nous dormons vous dormez ils dorment j'ai dormi | je sors tu sors il sort nous sortons vous sortez ils sortent je suis sorti(e) | je pars tu pars il part nous partons vous partez ils partent je suis parti(e) | je cours tu cours il court nous courons vous courez ils courent j'ai couru |
| SENTIR TO SMELL | MENTIR TO LIE | MOURIR TO DIE | SERVIR TO SERVE |
| je sens tu sens il sent nous sentons vous sentez ils sentent j'ai senti | je mens tu mens il ment nous mentons vous mentez ils mentent j'ai menti | je meurs tu meurs il meurt nous mourons vous mourez ils meurent il/elle est mort(e) | je sers tu sers il sert nous servons vous servez ils servent j'ai servi |
The second kind of irregular -ir verbs end in -rir in the infinitive and have the same endings as regular -er verbs. In my lessons I refer to these as -rir verbs. Note that to form the past participle with these verbs get rid of the -rir and replace it with -ert.
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| COUVRIR TO COVER | DÉCOUVRIR TO DISCOVER | OFFRIR TO OFFER | SOUFFRIR TO SUFFER |
| je couvre tu couvres il couvre nous couvrons vous couvrez ils couvrent j'ai couvert | je découvre tu découvres il découvre nous découvrons vous découvrez ils découvrent j'ai découvert | j'offre tu offres il offre nous offrons vous offrez ils offrent j'ai offert | je souffre tu souffres il souffre nous souffrons vous souffrez ils souffrent j'ai souffert |
Related Lessons:
- regular -er verbs
- regular -ir verbs
- regular -re verbs
- guide to irregular verbs
- -er verbs with spelling changes
If you've found this post useful you might want to considering looking at our post covering the best apps for learning French. We've looked a total 33 apps and have written comprehensive reviews of Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and FrenchPod101.
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Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho (near Jackson, Wyoming) and have helped hundreds of students to learn French online since 2013.
