Voir Conjugation: All Tenses of the French Verb “voir”
Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed August 2026
Voir means “to see” — with your eyes, but also in the senses of meeting someone and understanding something. It is among the ten most-used verbs in French and its future stem is one of the least predictable.
Voir works for perception (d'ici on voit la mer), for appointments (je vois le dentiste lundi), and for grasping an idea (ah, je vois). It is also behind on verra, the standard way of postponing a decision, and behind ça se voit, which is how you say it shows. The past participle turns up outside the verb too: vu que means seeing that, and bien vu is what you say when someone makes a fair point.
Voir keeps voi- in the singular present and in the third person plural (je vois, tu vois, il voit, ils voient) and switches to voy- for nous voyons and vous voyez. The imparfait uses voy- throughout, which produces the awkward two-vowel spellings nous voyions and vous voyiez. The future and conditional are built on verr- with a double r (je verrai, je verrais) — nothing in the infinitive predicts it. The subjunctive is que je voie, que nous voyions, so the nous form is written the same in the imparfait and the subjunctive. The past participle is vu.
Voir takes avoir: j'ai vu. The participle agrees with a direct object placed before the verb, which is common with this verb because of object pronouns: je l'ai vue hier, les films que j'ai vus.
Voir in context
Présent
D'ici, on voit toute la baie. From here you can see the whole bay.
Imparfait
Avant, nous voyions nos voisins tous les jours. We used to see our neighbours every day.
Passé composé
Tu as vu le message de Julie ? Did you see Julie's message?
Futur simple
Je verrai le médecin lundi matin. I'm seeing the doctor on Monday morning.
Subjonctif présent
Il faut qu'elle voie un spécialiste. She needs to see a specialist.
Common mistakes with voir
Writing the conditional where you mean the future
✗ Je verrais le médecin lundi.
✓ Je verrai le médecin lundi. — I'm seeing the doctor on Monday.
Je verrai is the future, je verrais the conditional. With voir the conditional is common in polite or hypothetical sentences (je verrais bien un canapé ici), so both spellings look plausible and only the meaning of the sentence tells you which one belongs.
Regularising the past participle
✗ J'ai voyé ce film deux fois.
✓ J'ai vu ce film deux fois. — I've seen this film twice.
The voy- stem belongs to the present plural and the imparfait, not to the participle. Voir has the short irregular participle vu, like boire has bu and lire has lu.
Using voir for watching something
✗ Le soir, je vois la télé.
✓ Le soir, je regarde la télé. — In the evening I watch TV.
Voir is passive perception: the image reaches your eyes. Regarder is deliberate attention. You voir a film in the sense of having seen it, but you regarder the television, a match or someone walking past.
Expressions with voir
on verra
we'll see
ça se voit
it shows, it's obvious
rien à voir
nothing to do with it
voir grand
to think big
aller voir quelqu'un
to go and see someone
Frequently asked questions
Is voir an irregular verb?
Yes, it is a third-group verb with two present stems (voi- and voy-) and a future stem, verr-, that shares nothing with the infinitive. Its participle vu is irregular as well. The endings are the standard ones, so the work is in learning which stem attaches to which tense.
What is the past participle of voir?
It is vu. After avoir it agrees with a direct object that comes before the verb, which is frequent with pronouns: je l'ai vu for a man, je l'ai vue for a woman, je les ai vus for a group. The endings are silent, so this is a writing issue rather than a speaking one.
Why is the future je verrai and not je voirai?
Because voir's future stem was worn down over centuries of use into verr-, with a double r that is genuinely pronounced longer than a single one in careful speech. The conditional uses the same stem: je verrais. A small group of verbs shares this doubled-r future, including pouvoir (je pourrai), courir (je courrai), mourir (je mourrai) and envoyer (j'enverrai).
What is the difference between voir and regarder?
Voir is what your eyes register without effort: je vois quelqu'un dans le jardin. Regarder is choosing to look: je regarde par la fenêtre. English blurs this with “see” and “look,” so the rule of thumb is that if you could add “deliberately,” the verb is regarder.
How do you pronounce vois, voit and voient?
All three sound the same, like the French word voix, because the final s, t and -ent are silent. Nous voyons and vous voyez add a y sound in the middle. The double r in je verrai is the only place in the paradigm where the pronunciation clearly changes.