How do you conjugate faire in the present tense?

Je fais, tu fais, il fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils font. Two forms are irregular: faites where you would expect faisez, and font where you would expect faisent. The past participle is fait.

Does faire mean to do or to make?

Both. French makes no distinction, so faire un gâteau is to make a cake and faire la vaisselle is to do the dishes. Which English verb you use depends on the object, not on anything in the French.

Why does French use faire for the weather?

Because weather is treated as something the world does rather than something it is. Il fait beau, il fait froid, il fait du vent all follow that pattern, and using être in them is ungrammatical.

When do I use faire du instead of jouer?

Faire du, de la or de l' covers activities you practise: faire du ski, faire de la natation, faire du piano. Jouer à is for games with rules, as in jouer au tennis, and jouer de is for instruments, as in jouer du violon.

What does faire plus an infinitive mean?

That you are arranging for the action rather than performing it. Je répare la voiture means you repair it yourself; je fais réparer la voiture means a mechanic does it. Any object pronoun goes in front of faire: je la fais réparer.

French grammar · Beginner

Faire in French: Conjugation and the Many Things It Does

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Faire covers both to do and to make, and it conjugates je fais, tu fais, il fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils font. It also runs the French weather expressions, most sports and hobbies, and the structure faire plus an infinitive, which means to have something done.

Qu'est-ce que tu fais ce week-end ?

What are you doing this weekend ?

What it is

English splits the idea of producing an outcome between do and make. French does not, and faire covers both, which makes it one of the three or four verbs you cannot get through a conversation without. Its conjugation hides two irregularities in plain sight: vous faites instead of the expected faisez, and ils font instead of faisent.

Il fait froid, alors je fais du thé. — It's cold, so I'm making tea.

How to spot it

Faire turns up wherever English would use do or make, plus three places English would not: the weather, arithmetic, and activities that English expresses with play or go.

Il fait beau aujourd'hui. — The weather is nice today.
Je fais du vélo le dimanche. — I go cycling on Sundays.
Deux et deux font quatre. — Two and two make four.
Elle fait ses devoirs. — She's doing her homework.

The -ai- in nous faisons is pronounced like the e of je, not like the ai of je fais. It is the only common verb where that happens.

Faire Quick Reference

Faire in the present tense

Subject	Form	Example
je	fais	je fais la cuisine — I'm cooking
tu	fais	tu fais quoi ? — what are you doing ?
il / elle / on	fait	il fait chaud — it's hot
nous	faisons	nous faisons du bruit — we're making noise
vous	faites	vous faites erreur — you're mistaken
ils / elles	font	ils font du sport — they play sport
past participle	fait	j'ai fait une erreur — I made a mistake
future stem	fer-	je ferai — I'll do

Common Faire Examples in French

Faire across its main territories:

Doing and Making

Je fais la vaisselle après le dîner.: I do the washing-up after dinner.
Elle a fait un gâteau au chocolat.: She made a chocolate cake.
Qu'est-ce qu'on fait maintenant ?: What do we do now ?
Ils font des travaux dans la rue.: They're doing roadworks in the street.

One verb for both English words, which means you never have to choose between do and make.

The Weather

Il fait vingt degrés.: It's twenty degrees.
Il faisait très chaud en août.: It was very hot in August.
Il fera meilleur demain.: The weather will be better tomorrow.
Il fait nuit à cinq heures en hiver.: It gets dark at five in winter.

Weather uses the impersonal il fait, never c'est and never être. The one exception is il pleut and il neige, which have their own verbs.

Sports and Hobbies

Je fais du piano depuis dix ans.: I've been playing piano for ten years.
Elle fait de la danse classique.: She does ballet.
Nous faisons de l'escalade le samedi.: We go climbing on Saturdays.
Ils font du football au parc.: They play football in the park.

Faire du, de la, or de l' depending on the gender of the activity. Jouer is used instead for team games with a named opponent.

Everyday Set Phrases

Ça fait longtemps qu'on ne s'est pas vus.: It's been a long time since we saw each other.
Ça fait combien ?: How much is that ?
Fais attention à la marche.: Mind the step.
Je fais la queue depuis vingt minutes.: I've been queuing for twenty minutes.

Ça fait plus a length of time is the standard way to say how long something has been going on.

How Faire Works

The conjugation has two surprises and the usage has three patterns worth knowing before anything else.

Vous Faites and Ils Font Break the Pattern

Every regular verb would give faisez and faisent. Faire gives faites and font instead, joining être and dire as the only verbs with a -tes ending for vous.

Vous faites erreur, ils font le contraire.

You're mistaken, they do the opposite.

faites and font, not faisez and faisent.

Weather Is Always Impersonal

French describes the weather with il fait plus an adjective or a bare noun. The il refers to nothing at all, and there is no way to make the sentence personal.

Il fait gris depuis une semaine.

It's been grey for a week.

il fait + adjective.

Activities Take a Partitive Article

Faire plus du, de la or de l' means to practise an activity. The partitive is what turns the noun into an ongoing pursuit rather than a single object.

Ma fille fait de la guitare.

My daughter plays the guitar.

faire + du / de la / de l'.

Faire Plus Infinitive Means Getting It Done

Put an infinitive straight after faire and the subject stops doing the action and starts arranging it. Nothing may come between the two verbs.

Nous faisons repeindre la cuisine.

We're having the kitchen repainted.

faire + infinitive = have it done.

Fait Agrees Like Any Participle, Except Before an Infinitive

Les erreurs que j'ai faites agrees with the preceding object. But in the causative, fait is frozen: les travaux que j'ai fait faire.

Voici la tarte que j'ai faite.

Here's the tart I made.

Agrees, unless an infinitive follows.

Common Mistakes with Faire

Incorrect: Vous faisez trop de bruit. — You're making too much noise.

Correct: Vous faites trop de bruit. — You're making too much noise.

Faire is one of three verbs whose vous form ends in -tes rather than -ez. The regular ending is exactly what a learner would predict, which is why this slip is so persistent.

Incorrect: C'est chaud aujourd'hui. — It's hot today.

Correct: Il fait chaud aujourd'hui. — It's hot today.

Weather takes the impersonal il fait. C'est chaud is a real sentence, but it means this particular thing is hot to the touch, not that the weather is warm.

Incorrect: Je joue le piano. — I play the piano.

Correct: Je fais du piano. — I play the piano.

For an instrument you practise, French uses faire du or jouer du, never jouer plus a definite article. Jouer le would suggest playing the role of a piano.

Incorrect: Je fais faire mes devoirs. — I do my homework.

Correct: Je fais mes devoirs. — I do my homework.

Doubling faire turns the sentence causative and means you are having someone else do your homework. One faire is enough when you are the one doing the work.

Faire Conjugated

Three stems carry the whole verb: fai- and f- in the present, fais- in the imparfait and participle, and the irregular fer- in the future and conditional. The subjunctive has a stem of its own, fass-.

The Simple Tenses

The present is where the irregularities live. Everything to the right of it is predictable once you accept fer- as the future stem.

Pronoun	présent	imparfait	futur simple	conditionnel
je / j'	fais	faisais	ferai	ferais
tu	fais	faisais	feras	ferais
il / elle / on	fait	faisait	fera	ferait
nous	faisons	faisions	ferons	ferions
vous	faites	faisiez	ferez	feriez
ils / elles	font	faisaient	feront	feraient

Every -ai- in the imparfait column is pronounced as a short e, so faisais sounds closer to fezay than to fay-zay.

Compound Tenses, Subjunctive and Imperative

Faire takes avoir, and its participle fait is one of the shortest in the language. The subjunctive runs entirely on fass-.

Pronoun	passé composé	plus-que-parfait	subjonctif (que…)	impératif
je / j'	ai fait	avais fait	fasse	—
tu	as fait	avais fait	fasses	fais
il / elle / on	a fait	avait fait	fasse	—
nous	avons fait	avions fait	fassions	faisons
vous	avez fait	aviez fait	fassiez	faites
ils / elles	ont fait	avaient fait	fassent	—

Il faut que je fasse and qu'il fasse beau are the two subjunctive forms you will hear most often.

The Verbs Built on Faire

Refaire, défaire and satisfaire follow faire exactly, including the odd vous and ils forms. Learning faire gives you all of them.

Pronoun	refaire	défaire	satisfaire
je / j'	refais	défais	satisfais
tu	refais	défais	satisfais
il / elle / on	refait	défait	satisfait
nous	refaisons	défaisons	satisfaisons
vous	refaites	défaites	satisfaites
ils / elles	refont	défont	satisfont

The odd one out is stupéfaire, which barely exists outside the participle stupéfait.

Weather, Activities, and Faire Plus Infinitive

Three uses account for most of the sentences where faire does not simply mean do or make.

Talking about the weather

Il fait plus an adjective, or il fait du plus a noun for wind, sun and fog. Temperature and light levels use the same frame.

Il fait doux ce matin.: It's mild this morning.
Il fait du vent sur la côte.: It's windy on the coast.
Il faisait moins cinq hier.: It was minus five yesterday.
Il fait jour vers sept heures.: It gets light around seven.

Il pleut, il neige and il gèle are separate verbs and do not use faire.

Faire du for sports and hobbies

Use faire plus a partitive article for anything you practise. Jouer à is reserved for games and jouer de for instruments in a more formal register.

Je fais du judo depuis l'enfance.: I've done judo since childhood.
Il fait de la photo à ses heures perdues.: He does photography in his spare time.
Elles font de la randonnée en montagne.: They go hiking in the mountains.
On fait du bénévolat le week-end.: We do volunteer work at weekends.

In the negative the partitive collapses to de: je ne fais pas de sport.

Faire plus an infinitive

This makes the subject the organiser rather than the doer. Nothing comes between the two verbs, and any pronoun moves in front of faire.

Je fais réparer mon vélo.: I'm having my bike repaired.
Tu me fais rire.: You make me laugh.
Elle s'est fait couper les cheveux.: She got her hair cut.
On a fait venir un plombier.: We got a plumber out.

The participle fait never agrees when an infinitive follows it, whatever comes before.

Faire FAQs

How do you conjugate faire in the present tense?: Je fais, tu fais, il fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils font. Two forms are irregular: faites where you would expect faisez, and font where you would expect faisent. The past participle is fait.
Does faire mean to do or to make?: Both. French makes no distinction, so faire un gâteau is to make a cake and faire la vaisselle is to do the dishes. Which English verb you use depends on the object, not on anything in the French.
Why does French use faire for the weather?: Because weather is treated as something the world does rather than something it is. Il fait beau, il fait froid, il fait du vent all follow that pattern, and using être in them is ungrammatical.
When do I use faire du instead of jouer?: Faire du, de la or de l' covers activities you practise: faire du ski, faire de la natation, faire du piano. Jouer à is for games with rules, as in jouer au tennis, and jouer de is for instruments, as in jouer du violon.
What does faire plus an infinitive mean?: That you are arranging for the action rather than performing it. Je répare la voiture means you repair it yourself; je fais réparer la voiture means a mechanic does it. Any object pronoun goes in front of faire: je la fais réparer.