French grammar · Beginner
Venir in French: Conjugation, Venir De, and the Whole Family
Venir means to come and conjugates je viens, tu viens, il vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils viennent. It takes être in the passé composé, giving je suis venu, and with de in front of an infinitive it becomes the French way of saying have just: je viens d'arriver.
Tu viens avec nous ce soir ?
Are you coming with us tonight ?
What it is
Venir describes movement towards the speaker or towards the place being talked about. It is a movement verb, so it takes être in compound tenses and its participle agrees with the subject. It is also the base of a large family of verbs, revenir, devenir, tenir, obtenir and a dozen more, all of which conjugate exactly like it.
Elle est venue en train et elle repart demain. — She came by train and she leaves again tomorrow.
How to spot it
Look for the stem vien- with a doubled n in ils viennent, and for the -iendr- of the future. Any verb showing those two patterns belongs to the venir family.
- Je viens de Lyon. — I'm from Lyon.
- Ils viennent dîner samedi. — They're coming to dinner on Saturday.
- Nous sommes venus à pied. — We came on foot.
- Elle viendra plus tard. — She'll come later.
Je viens de Lyon and je viens de partir look identical but split on what follows de: a place means origin, an infinitive means just.
Venir Quick Reference
Venir at a glance
| Structure | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| venir + infinitive | come in order to | je viens t'aider — I'm coming to help you |
| venir de + infinitive | have just | je viens de manger — I've just eaten |
| venir de + place | come from | je viens de Nantes — I'm from Nantes |
| venir chercher | come and get | je viens te chercher — I'll come and pick you up |
| en venir à | end up doing | il en est venu à démissionner — he ended up resigning |
| passé composé | être + venu | elle est venue — she came |
| future stem | viendr- | je viendrai — I'll come |
| subjunctive | vienne / venions | il faut qu'il vienne — he has to come |
Common Venir Examples in French
Venir in the sentences you will actually use:
Coming and Arriving
- Viens ici une seconde.
- Come here a second.
- Le facteur est venu ce matin.
- The postman came this morning.
- Ils viennent nous voir en juillet.
- They're coming to see us in July.
- Elle n'est pas venue au rendez-vous.
- She didn't come to the meeting.
The participle agrees with the subject because venir takes être: il est venu, elle est venue, elles sont venues.
Saying Where You Are From
- Je viens du Portugal.
- I'm from Portugal.
- D'où venez-vous ?
- Where are you from ?
- Ce fromage vient de Normandie.
- This cheese comes from Normandy.
- Le mot vient du latin.
- The word comes from Latin.
With a country the article contracts: du Portugal, de la Suisse, des Pays-Bas.
The Recent Past
- Je viens de recevoir ton message.
- I've just got your message.
- Elle vient de partir, tu l'as manquée.
- She's just left, you missed her.
- Nous venons de finir le repas.
- We've just finished the meal.
- Il venait de se coucher quand j'ai appelé.
- He had just gone to bed when I called.
The de is compulsory and the whole structure works only in the present and the imparfait.
Fixed Combinations
- Je viens te chercher à la gare.
- I'll come and pick you up at the station.
- Ça vient de toi, ce dessin ?
- Is this drawing yours ?
- Comment en es-tu venu à cette conclusion ?
- How did you arrive at that conclusion ?
- Le moment venu, on décidera.
- When the time comes, we'll decide.
Venir chercher is the standard way to say come and get, with no et between the two verbs.
How Venir Behaves
The verb is irregular in a very regular way, and the same pattern will serve you for twenty other verbs.
Vien- in the Singular, Ven- in the Plural
The present alternates between two stems, with ils taking a doubled n: viennent. That double n is pronounced as a nasal-free vowel, which makes ils viennent audibly different from il vient.
Il vient seul, ils viennent à trois.
He's coming alone, they're coming as a threesome.
viens, viens, vient, venons, venez, viennent.
Venir Takes Être
As a verb of movement, venir builds all its compound tenses with être, and the participle venu agrees with the subject in gender and number.
Mes cousines sont venues sans prévenir.
My cousins came without warning.
être + venu(e)(s).
The Future Stem Inserts a D
Viendr- is one of the few French future stems that adds a consonant that is nowhere in the infinitive. Every verb in the family does the same: tiendr-, deviendr-, obtiendr-.
Je viendrai te voir dimanche.
I'll come and see you on Sunday.
venir → viendr- → je viendrai.
A Bare Infinitive Means Purpose
Venir plus an infinitive, with no de, means to come in order to do something. English usually adds and or to, but French connects the two verbs directly.
Ils sont venus manger chez nous.
They came to eat at our place.
venir + infinitive = come and do.
De Changes Everything
Adding de before the infinitive switches the meaning from purpose to recency. Je viens manger and je viens de manger differ by one word and mean opposite things about time.
Je viens de manger, je ne viens pas manger.
I've just eaten, I'm not coming to eat.
venir de + infinitive = have just.
Common Mistakes with Venir
Incorrect: J'ai venu hier soir. — I came last night.
Correct: Je suis venu hier soir. — I came last night.
Venir is a movement verb and takes être in every compound tense. The participle then agrees with the subject: je suis venue if the speaker is a woman.
Incorrect: Je viens manger. — I've just eaten.
Correct: Je viens de manger. — I've just eaten.
Without de, the sentence means I'm coming to eat. The de is the only thing that turns venir into a marker of the recent past, and dropping it reverses the timing.
Incorrect: Nous viennons demain. — We're coming tomorrow.
Correct: Nous venons demain. — We're coming tomorrow.
The doubled n belongs to ils viennent only. Nous and vous keep the plain stem ven-, in the same way as nous tenons and vous devenez.
Incorrect: Je viens pour te chercher. — I'm coming to pick you up.
Correct: Je viens te chercher. — I'm coming to pick you up.
Venir connects directly to an infinitive of purpose with no preposition. Adding pour is not wrong in every context, but with chercher it sounds heavy and is not what a French speaker would say.
Venir Conjugated
Four stems: vien- and ven- in the present, ven- for the imparfait and the participle venu, viendr- for the future and conditional, and vienn- for most of the subjunctive.
The Simple Tenses
The imparfait is entirely regular on ven-, and the future and conditional share the stem viendr-.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur simple | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | viens | venais | viendrai | viendrais |
| tu | viens | venais | viendras | viendrais |
| il / elle / on | vient | venait | viendra | viendrait |
| nous | venons | venions | viendrons | viendrions |
| vous | venez | veniez | viendrez | viendriez |
| ils / elles | viennent | venaient | viendront | viendraient |
The passé simple is unusual too: je vins, il vint, ils vinrent. You will meet it in novels rather than in speech.
Compound Tenses, Subjunctive and Imperative
Être is the auxiliary throughout, so the participle agrees. The subjunctive uses vienn- in the singular and ven- for nous and vous.
| Pronoun | passé composé | plus-que-parfait | subjonctif (que…) | impératif |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | suis venu(e) | étais venu(e) | vienne | — |
| tu | es venu(e) | étais venu(e) | viennes | viens |
| il / elle / on | est venu(e) | était venu(e) | vienne | — |
| nous | sommes venu(e)s | étions venu(e)s | venions | venons |
| vous | êtes venu(e)(s) | étiez venu(e)(s) | veniez | venez |
| ils / elles | sont venu(e)s | étaient venu(e)s | viennent | — |
Viens and venez are among the most common imperatives in spoken French: viens voir, venez avec moi.
The Venir Family
Every verb built on venir or tenir follows this conjugation exactly. Only the auxiliary differs: the venir group takes être, the tenir group takes avoir.
| Pronoun | revenir | devenir | tenir | obtenir |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | reviens | deviens | tiens | obtiens |
| tu | reviens | deviens | tiens | obtiens |
| il / elle / on | revient | devient | tient | obtient |
| nous | revenons | devenons | tenons | obtenons |
| vous | revenez | devenez | tenez | obtenez |
| ils / elles | reviennent | deviennent | tiennent | obtiennent |
Il est devenu médecin takes être, but il a obtenu son diplôme takes avoir, even though the two verbs conjugate identically.
Venir De and the Wider Family
One structure and one verb group account for most of the times venir means something other than to come.
Venir de plus an infinitive
The recent past. It exists in the present, meaning have just, and in the imparfait, meaning had just. There is no future version.
- Je viens de raccrocher.
- I've just hung up.
- Le film vient de commencer.
- The film has just started.
- Ils venaient de sortir quand tu es arrivé.
- They had just gone out when you arrived.
- Elle vient d'apprendre la nouvelle.
- She's just heard the news.
Before a vowel the de elides: vient d'arriver, viens d'entendre.
Verbs built on venir
Revenir is to come back, devenir is to become, parvenir is to reach or manage, survenir is to occur unexpectedly. All take être and all conjugate like venir.
- Je reviens dans cinq minutes.
- I'll be back in five minutes.
- Elle est devenue architecte.
- She became an architect.
- Nous sommes parvenus à un accord.
- We reached an agreement.
- Un problème est survenu.
- A problem has come up.
Convenir is the odd one: it takes avoir when it means to suit and être when it means to agree on.
Verbs built on tenir
Tenir, obtenir, contenir, appartenir and maintenir share the conjugation but take avoir, because holding is not movement.
- Tiens-moi ça une seconde.
- Hold this for me a second.
- J'ai obtenu une réponse hier.
- I got an answer yesterday.
- Ce livre appartient à ma sœur.
- This book belongs to my sister.
- Elle tient à toi.
- She's very fond of you.
Tenir à plus a noun or an infinitive means to care about or to insist on: je tiens à payer.
Venir FAQs
- How do you conjugate venir in the present tense?
- Je viens, tu viens, il vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils viennent. The future stem is viendr-, giving je viendrai, and the past participle is venu, which agrees with the subject because venir takes être.
- Is venir conjugated with être or avoir?
- Être, in every compound tense, because it is a verb of movement. Je suis venu, elle est venue, nous sommes venus. The verbs built on it, such as revenir and devenir, take être too, but the tenir group takes avoir.
- What does venir de mean?
- Two things, depending on what follows. Before a place it means to come from: je viens de Bordeaux. Before an infinitive it means to have just: je viens de finir. The structure is the same, the reading is decided by the complement.
- What is the difference between je viens manger and je viens de manger?
- One word and a complete reversal of time. Je viens manger means I'm coming to eat, in the future. Je viens de manger means I've just eaten, in the immediate past.
- Which verbs conjugate like venir?
- Revenir, devenir, parvenir, survenir, se souvenir, and the whole tenir group: tenir, obtenir, contenir, maintenir, appartenir. All share the vien- and vienn- stems and the viendr- future.