French grammar · Beginner
Regular -ir Verbs in French: The -iss- Pattern and How to Spot It
Regular -ir verbs like finir and choisir take the endings -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent in the present tense. The plural forms insert -iss- before the ending, which is what separates this group from the irregular -ir verbs such as partir and ouvrir.
Nous finissons le travail avant midi.
We finish the work before noon.
What it is
Regular -ir verbs form the second of the three French conjugation groups. You remove the -ir and add a short ending in the singular, but in the plural an extra syllable appears: -iss-. That syllable is the group's fingerprint, and it turns up again in the imperfect, the subjunctive, and the present participle.
finir → je finis, tu finis, il finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent. — to finish → I finish, you finish, he finishes, we finish, you finish, they finish.
How to spot it
The test is the nous form. If nous takes -issons, the verb is regular; if it takes plain -ons, you're looking at an irregular -ir verb.
- Nous choisissons un dessert. — We're choosing a dessert. (regular)
- Nous partons à huit heures. — We're leaving at eight. (irregular)
- Elle réussit toujours ses examens. — She always passes her exams.
- Ils obéissent à leurs parents. — They obey their parents.
Around three hundred verbs follow this pattern. It's a much smaller group than the -er verbs, but its members are frequent and it takes no new verbs.
Regular -ir Verbs Quick Reference
The present tense of three regular -ir verbs
| Subject | Ending | finir (to finish) | choisir (to choose) | réussir (to succeed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | -is | finis | choisis | réussis |
| tu | -is | finis | choisis | réussis |
| il / elle / on | -it | finit | choisit | réussit |
| nous | -issons | finissons | choisissons | réussissons |
| vous | -issez | finissez | choisissez | réussissez |
| ils / elles | -issent | finissent | choisissent | réussissent |
Common Regular -ir Verbs Examples in French
Regular -ir verbs in ordinary sentences:
Finishing and Deciding
- Je finis dans dix minutes.
- I'm finishing in ten minutes.
- Tu choisis le rouge ou le bleu ?
- Are you choosing the red one or the blue one?
- On définit les règles ensemble.
- We set the rules together.
- Ils remplissent le formulaire.
- They're filling in the form.
Remplir takes a direct object with no preposition: remplir un formulaire, not remplir dans un formulaire.
Succeeding and Failing
- Elle réussit à convaincre tout le monde.
- She manages to convince everyone.
- Nous avertissons les voisins.
- We're warning the neighbours.
- Le projet aboutit enfin.
- The project is finally coming to something.
- Vous punissez trop sévèrement.
- You punish too harshly.
Réussir à plus an infinitive means to manage to do something. Réussir un examen, with no preposition, means to pass it.
Changing State
- Les feuilles jaunissent en octobre.
- The leaves turn yellow in October.
- Il vieillit bien.
- He's ageing well.
- Le lait refroidit vite.
- The milk cools down quickly.
- Nous grandissons tous les jours.
- We grow every day.
This is the most productive corner of the group: an adjective plus -ir gives a verb meaning to become that adjective.
Reacting and Feeling
- Je rougis facilement.
- I blush easily.
- Tu réfléchis trop.
- You think about it too much.
- Le public applaudit longuement.
- The audience applauds for a long time.
- Elles réagissent très vite.
- They react very quickly.
Réfléchir à means to think about: je réfléchis à ta question. Without the à it means to reflect light.
How Regular -ir Verbs Work
One stem, two shapes. The singular keeps the stem bare and the plural lengthens it, and that split runs through the whole verb.
Drop the -ir for the Singular
Remove the -ir and add -is, -is, -it. The three singular forms are pronounced identically, so once again the pronoun carries the information and only the spelling of the third person differs.
Je choisis, tu choisis, il choisit.
I choose, you choose, he chooses.
-is, -is, -it, all silent-ending.
Insert -iss- for the Plural
The plural stem is longer: fin- becomes finiss-. Historically this came from a Latin marker that survived only in this group, which is why it looks like it appears out of nowhere.
Nous réfléchissons à votre proposition.
We're thinking about your proposal.
Plural = stem + iss + ending.
The Long Stem Powers the Imperfect and the Subjunctive
Because both tenses build on the nous form, the -iss- carries over: nous finissons gives je finissais and que je finisse. If you know the plural present, you get those forms for free.
Je finissais toujours en retard.
I always used to finish late.
nous finissons → je finissais.
The Future Uses the Whole Infinitive
For the future and the conditional, nothing is removed and nothing is added to the stem: finir plus the endings gives je finirai and je finirais. The -iss- does not appear in either tense.
Nous finirons avant la nuit.
We'll finish before dark.
finir + ai = finirai.
The Past Participle Is Just -i
Cut the -r and you have it: fini, choisi, réussi, grandi. That makes the passé composé of this group unusually predictable, and the participle behaves like any other in the agreement rules.
J'ai choisi la deuxième option.
I chose the second option.
finir → fini.
Common Mistakes with Regular -ir Verbs
Incorrect: Nous finons le projet. — We're finishing the project.
Correct: Nous finissons le projet. — We're finishing the project.
The plural of a regular -ir verb needs the -iss- syllable. Dropping it produces a form that sounds like an irregular verb and doesn't exist for finir.
Incorrect: Nous choisissons de partir, alors nous partissons. — We're choosing to leave, so we're leaving.
Correct: Nous choisissons de partir, alors nous partons. — We're choosing to leave, so we're leaving.
Partir is irregular and takes plain -ons. Once learners have absorbed the -iss- pattern they tend to apply it to every -ir verb they meet.
Incorrect: Il finis son café. — He's finishing his coffee.
Correct: Il finit son café. — He's finishing his coffee.
The third-person singular takes -it, not -is. All three singular forms sound the same, so the difference exists only in writing.
Incorrect: Je finisserai demain. — I'll finish tomorrow.
Correct: Je finirai demain. — I'll finish tomorrow.
The future is built on the bare infinitive, finir-, with no -iss- at all. The long stem belongs to the present plural, the imperfect, and the subjunctive only.
Regular -ir Verbs Across the Tenses
Watch where the -iss- appears and where it vanishes. It is present in the plural of the present tense, throughout the imperfect and the subjunctive, and absent from the future, the conditional, and the participle.
The Present
Three verbs from the group side by side. Obéir starts with a vowel, so je shortens to j' in the first person.
| Pronoun | finir | choisir | obéir |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | finis | choisis | obéis |
| tu | finis | choisis | obéis |
| il / elle / on | finit | choisit | obéit |
| nous | finissons | choisissons | obéissons |
| vous | finissez | choisissez | obéissez |
| ils / elles | finissent | choisissent | obéissent |
Obéir needs à before its object: on obéit à la loi. The conjugation is unaffected.
Where -iss- Survives
The imperfect and the present subjunctive both take their stem from the nous form, so both keep the long stem in every person.
| Pronoun | imparfait | subjonctif présent |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | finissais | que je finisse |
| tu | finissais | que tu finisses |
| il / elle / on | finissait | qu'il finisse |
| nous | finissions | que nous finissions |
| vous | finissiez | que vous finissiez |
| ils / elles | finissaient | qu'ils finissent |
The nous and vous forms of the imperfect and the subjunctive are spelled the same. Only the sentence around them tells you which one you're reading.
Where -iss- Disappears
The future and conditional attach their endings to the full infinitive, and the compound past uses a participle in -i. Neither has any trace of the long stem.
| Pronoun | futur simple | conditionnel | passé composé |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | finirai | finirais | ai fini |
| tu | finiras | finirais | as fini |
| il / elle / on | finira | finirait | a fini |
| nous | finirons | finirions | avons fini |
| vous | finirez | finiriez | avez fini |
| ils / elles | finiront | finiraient | ont fini |
Every verb in this group takes avoir in the compound tenses, which removes one decision you'd otherwise have to make.
The -ir Verbs Built From Adjectives
One corner of this group is genuinely systematic: take an adjective, add -ir, and you get a verb meaning to become that adjective. French uses it where English needs two or three words.
Colours and appearance
A colour adjective plus -ir describes something taking on that colour. The resulting verb is fully regular, so you only have to know the adjective.
- Les tomates rougissent au soleil.
- The tomatoes are turning red in the sun.
- Ses cheveux blanchissent.
- His hair is going white.
- Le ciel noircit avant l'orage.
- The sky darkens before the storm.
- Les feuilles verdissent au printemps.
- The leaves turn green in spring.
Rougir also means to blush, which is the same idea applied to a person.
Size, age, and condition
The same trick works on adjectives of size and age, and it gives French a single verb where English falls back on get or become plus an adjective.
- Il grandit de deux centimètres par an.
- He's growing two centimetres a year.
- J'ai maigri cet été.
- I lost weight this summer.
- La ville s'embellit chaque année.
- The city gets more beautiful every year.
- Le pain durcit en une journée.
- The bread goes hard in a day.
Grandir, grossir, maigrir, and vieillir all take avoir in the passé composé even though they describe a change of state.
The causative twin
Many of these verbs work both ways: intransitively they mean to become, and transitively they mean to make something become. The conjugation is identical, so only the presence of an object tells you which reading applies.
- La sauce épaissit.
- The sauce is thickening.
- J'épaissis la sauce.
- I'm thickening the sauce.
- Le silence s'alourdit.
- The silence is growing heavier.
When there is an object, the subject causes the change; when there isn't, the subject undergoes it.
Regular -ir Verbs FAQs
- What are the endings for regular -ir verbs in French?
- In the present tense: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent. Choisir gives je choisis, tu choisis, il choisit, nous choisissons, vous choisissez, ils choisissent. The plural forms are the ones to watch, because they add a whole syllable.
- How do I know whether an -ir verb is regular?
- Check the nous form. Nous grandissons means the verb is regular; nous sortons, nous ouvrons, or nous venons means it belongs to one of the irregular families. The infinitive on its own gives you nothing, since finir and dormir look equally ordinary.
- Why do regular -ir verbs add -iss- in the plural?
- It's the remains of a Latin suffix that only survived in this group. In practice it's useful: the -iss- also shows up in the imperfect (je finissais), the subjunctive (que je finisse), and the present participle (finissant), so learning it once pays off three more times.
- Is partir a regular -ir verb?
- No. Partir belongs to the irregular family that drops the final stem consonant in the singular: je pars, tu pars, il part, nous partons. Dormir, sortir, servir, sentir, and mentir all behave the same way.
- How do you form the past tense of a regular -ir verb?
- Take avoir plus a participle in -i: j'ai fini, tu as choisi, elle a réussi. Every verb in this group uses avoir, and the participle is simply the infinitive without its final r.