French grammar · Intermediate
Irregular Future and Conditional Stems in French: One List, Two Tenses
Le futur simple and le conditionnel présent are built from the same stem, and for most verbs that stem is the infinitive. About twenty verbs replace it with something short and unrecognisable — ir- for aller, aur- for avoir, verr- for voir. Learn one of those stems and you have learnt it for both tenses at once.
Nous irons demain, et si nous avions le temps, nous irions plus souvent.
We'll go tomorrow, and if we had the time, we'd go more often.
What it is
This is the most economical piece of French verb learning there is. The future and the conditional draw on a single stem, and the only difference between the two tenses is the ending set that follows it. So the twenty-odd verbs that refuse to use their infinitive as a stem cost you one list, not two.
Je pourrai venir jeudi, et je pourrais même rester dîner. — I'll be able to come on Thursday, and I could even stay for dinner.
How to spot it
Look for a stem ending in -r that does not match the infinitive. Every future and conditional stem in the language ends in -r, irregular or not, because that r is what the infinitive left behind.
- Il sera là à midi. — He'll be there at noon.
- Tu aurais dû me le dire. — You should have told me.
- Nous ferons de notre mieux. — We'll do our best.
- Elle viendrait volontiers. — She'd gladly come.
Ser-, aur-, fer-, viendr-: none of them contains a recognisable trace of être, avoir, faire or venir. That is exactly why they have to be memorised as units.
Irregular Future and Conditional Stems Quick Reference
The irregular stems, with the je form of each tense
| Verb | Stem | Futur / conditionnel |
|---|---|---|
| aller | ir- | j'irai / j'irais |
| avoir | aur- | j'aurai / j'aurais |
| être | ser- | je serai / je serais |
| faire | fer- | je ferai / je ferais |
| savoir | saur- | je saurai / je saurais |
| voir | verr- | je verrai / je verrais |
| envoyer | enverr- | j'enverrai / j'enverrais |
| pouvoir | pourr- | je pourrai / je pourrais |
| vouloir | voudr- | je voudrai / je voudrais |
| devoir | devr- | je devrai / je devrais |
| recevoir | recevr- | je recevrai / je recevrais |
| venir | viendr- | je viendrai / je viendrais |
| tenir | tiendr- | je tiendrai / je tiendrais |
| courir | courr- | je courrai / je courrais |
| mourir | mourr- | je mourrai / je mourrais |
| cueillir | cueiller- | je cueillerai / je cueillerais |
| falloir | faudr- | il faudra / il faudrait |
| valoir | vaudr- | il vaudra / il vaudrait |
| pleuvoir | pleuvr- | il pleuvra / il pleuvrait |
| s'asseoir | assiér- / assoir- | je m'assiérai / je m'assiérais |
Common Irregular Future and Conditional Stems Examples in French
The irregular stems as they actually turn up:
The Same Stem, Two Tenses
- Je viendrai à sept heures.
- I'll come at seven.
- Je viendrais si je pouvais.
- I'd come if I could.
- Nous verrons ce qui se passe.
- We'll see what happens.
- Nous verrions les choses autrement.
- We'd see things differently.
Nothing changes but the ending. If you can build the future of a verb, the conditional costs you no extra memorising at all.
The Doubled R
- Tu pourras m'aider ?
- Will you be able to help me?
- Je courrai le marathon en avril.
- I'll run the marathon in April.
- Il mourrait de honte.
- He'd die of shame.
- Je vous enverrai le dossier.
- I'll send you the file.
Pouvoir, courir, mourir, voir and envoyer carry two r's in these two tenses and nowhere else in the language.
The Impersonal Verbs
- Il faudra partir tôt.
- We'll have to leave early.
- Il vaudrait mieux attendre.
- It would be better to wait.
- Il pleuvra toute la semaine.
- It's going to rain all week.
- Il y aura du monde.
- There'll be a lot of people.
These exist in the third person singular only. Il faudrait and il vaudrait mieux are among the most frequently used conditional forms in French.
Compounds Inherit the Stem
- Je reviendrai lundi.
- I'll come back on Monday.
- Elle obtiendra son visa.
- She'll get her visa.
- Nous nous souviendrons de ce jour.
- We'll remember that day.
- Il refera le test.
- He'll retake the test.
Anything built on venir, tenir or faire keeps the irregular stem: revenir gives reviendr-, obtenir gives obtiendr-, refaire gives refer-.
How the Stems Work
Five facts that turn a list of twenty verbs into a system.
Every Stem Ends in R
Regular or irregular, no exceptions. The r is the fossil of the infinitive ending, and it is the single most reliable way to recognise these two tenses on the page.
Tu sauras la vérité demain.
You'll know the truth tomorrow.
No r, not a future or a conditional.
The Endings Are Never Irregular
The future takes -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, which is avoir in the present with the av- removed. The conditional takes the imperfect endings. Only the stem can misbehave.
Ils feront de leur mieux.
They'll do their best.
Irregularity lives in the stem alone.
The Stem Replaces the Whole Infinitive
These are not modifications of the infinitive but substitutions for it. Faudr- retains almost nothing of falloir, and ir- retains nothing whatever of aller.
Il faudra choisir.
A choice will have to be made.
Substitution, not adjustment.
One Stem Buys Two Tenses
Because the stem is shared, a verb is either irregular in both tenses or in neither. There is no verb with an irregular future and a regular conditional.
Nous devrons décider, mais nous devrions attendre.
We'll have to decide, but we ought to wait.
Irregular future means irregular conditional.
Watch the Doubled R Against the Imperfect
Courir and mourir produce pairs that differ by one letter and by a whole tense. Courrais is the conditional; courais is the imperfect. The doubled r is doing real work.
Je courrais plus vite avec de bonnes chaussures.
I'd run faster in decent shoes.
rr for the conditional, single r for the imperfect.
Common Mistakes with Irregular Future and Conditional Stems
Incorrect: Je voirai ce que je peux faire. — I'll see what I can do.
Correct: Je verrai ce que je peux faire. — I'll see what I can do.
Voir does not keep its infinitive. The stem is verr-, with two r's, and it is the same stem in the conditional: je verrais.
Incorrect: Il courait le marathon s'il était en forme. — He'd run the marathon if he were fit.
Correct: Il courrait le marathon s'il était en forme. — He'd run the marathon if he were fit.
A si clause with the imperfect needs a conditional in the other half, and courir's conditional has two r's. Courait with one r is the imperfect, which turns the sentence into a claim about the past.
Incorrect: Nous allerons à Lyon en juin. — We'll go to Lyon in June.
Correct: Nous irons à Lyon en juin. — We'll go to Lyon in June.
Aller substitutes ir- for the entire infinitive. Nothing of aller survives in either the future or the conditional, which makes allerai and allerais impossible forms.
Incorrect: Est-ce que tu pouras m'aider ? — Will you be able to help me?
Correct: Est-ce que tu pourras m'aider ? — Will you be able to help me?
Pouvoir's stem is pourr-, so the future has rr before the ending. Writing a single r is the most frequent slip in this group, because the two r's are not heard distinctly in speech.
The Irregular Stems Across Both Tenses
The same three verbs conjugated twice, so the shared stem is visible, followed by the stems worth committing to memory.
Le futur simple
Endings: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. Attach them straight onto the irregular stem with nothing in between.
| Pronoun | aller (ir-) | faire (fer-) | voir (verr-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | j'irai | je ferai | je verrai |
| tu | iras | feras | verras |
| il / elle / on | ira | fera | verra |
| nous | irons | ferons | verrons |
| vous | irez | ferez | verrez |
| ils / elles | iront | feront | verront |
J'irai is only four letters long, which makes aller the most heavily contracted verb in the paradigm.
Le conditionnel présent
The identical stems, now with imperfect endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
| Pronoun | aller (ir-) | faire (fer-) | voir (verr-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | j'irais | je ferais | je verrais |
| tu | irais | ferais | verrais |
| il / elle / on | irait | ferait | verrait |
| nous | irions | ferions | verrions |
| vous | iriez | feriez | verriez |
| ils / elles | iraient | feraient | verraient |
Compare j'irai with j'irais: a single s separates a plan from a hypothesis, and in speech the two are barely distinguishable.
The stems worth knowing cold
Ten high-frequency verbs, with the third-person singular of each tense so you can hear the shape.
| Pronoun | Stem | Futur | Conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|
| avoir | aur- | il aura | il aurait |
| être | ser- | il sera | il serait |
| savoir | saur- | il saura | il saurait |
| pouvoir | pourr- | il pourra | il pourrait |
| vouloir | voudr- | il voudra | il voudrait |
| devoir | devr- | il devra | il devrait |
| venir | viendr- | il viendra | il viendrait |
| tenir | tiendr- | il tiendra | il tiendrait |
| envoyer | enverr- | il enverra | il enverrait |
| recevoir | recevr- | il recevra | il recevrait |
Venir and tenir both insert a d that appears in no other tense, and every verb built on them does the same.
Stems That Only Change Their Spelling
A second group is not irregular so much as inconvenient: the stem is still the infinitive, but the spelling shifts.
Verbs in -yer: y becomes i
Verbs ending in -oyer and -uyer change y to i throughout both tenses, in every person. The change is not optional for those two groups.
- Je nettoierai la cuisine.
- I'll clean the kitchen.
- Il paiera demain.
- He'll pay tomorrow.
- Nous essaierions autre chose.
- We'd try something else.
Payer and essayer accept both spellings — il paiera and il payera are each correct — but the i version is far more common in modern writing.
Verbs that double or accent the stem
Appeler, jeter and acheter keep the stem change they show in the present, and unlike the present they keep it in every single person.
- Je t'appellerai ce soir.
- I'll call you tonight.
- Nous achèterons du pain.
- We'll buy some bread.
- Elle jetterait tout.
- She'd throw everything out.
In the present, nous appelons loses the double l. In the future and conditional nous appellerons keeps it, which catches people out.
Verbs with two accepted stems
A small number of verbs have two full paradigms, both correct, differing only in the stem.
- Je m'assiérai ici.
- I'll sit here.
- Je m'assoirai ici.
- I'll sit here.
Assiér- is the more traditional and more literary of the two; assoir- is what you are more likely to hear.
Irregular Future and Conditional Stems FAQs
- Which French verbs have irregular future stems?
- About twenty: aller (ir-), avoir (aur-), être (ser-), faire (fer-), savoir (saur-), voir (verr-), envoyer (enverr-), pouvoir (pourr-), vouloir (voudr-), devoir (devr-), recevoir (recevr-), venir (viendr-), tenir (tiendr-), courir (courr-), mourir (mourr-), cueillir (cueiller-), falloir (faudr-), valoir (vaudr-), pleuvoir (pleuvr-) and s'asseoir.
- Is the future stem the same as the conditional stem?
- Always. The two tenses share one stem, and only the endings differ: the future takes -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, the conditional takes -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. There is no verb irregular in one tense and regular in the other.
- Why do some future stems have two r's?
- Because the stem already ends in r and the ending adds another: cour- plus r gives courr-, mour- gives mourr-, and pouvoir and voir behave the same way. In courir and mourir this matters for meaning, since courrais is the conditional and courais the imperfect.
- What are the future and conditional endings in French?
- The future takes -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, which is the present of avoir minus the av-. The conditional takes the imperfect endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Both attach directly to a stem ending in r.
- Do compound verbs like revenir use the irregular stem?
- Yes. Any verb built on an irregular one inherits its stem, so revenir gives je reviendrai, obtenir gives j'obtiendrai, refaire gives je referai, and se souvenir gives je me souviendrai. Learning venir, tenir and faire covers dozens of verbs at once.