As one of the most common French verbs, venir (to come) is extremely helpful to anyone learning the language. Knowing each venir conjugation in French can help you elevate your conversations and make them sound more natural. While French verb conjugation can seem overwhelming, this simple guide will help you master the many uses of the common French verb venir.
Table of Contents
What does venir mean in French?
The French verb venir has a variety of uses. The most common and straightforward is to say “to come”:
- Tu veux venir chez moi ? = Do you want to come to my house?
- Elle va venir plus tard. = She is going to come later.
Venir is also used to ask someone where they come from:
- Vous venez d’où ? = Where do you come from? (formal)
- D’où viens-tu ? = Where do you come from? (informal)
Another common use is to add de (“of”/”from”) and another verb after a conjugation of venir to talk about having “just” done something:
- Je viens de finir mon travail. = I just finished my work.
- Nous venons de voir le film. = We just saw the movie.
There are a few other nuanced uses of the verb venir, but these three are by far the most common. If you’re also learning Spanish, the Spanish verb venir means “to come” also, although there are many more uses in Spanish.
Venir conjugation in le présent (present tense)
The most frequently used venir conjugation in French is the present tense. As seen in the previous section, venir is used in the French present tense to ask people where they are from or to describe actions that have just been completed.
| je viens | I come/am coming | nous venons | We come/are coming |
| tu viens | You come/are coming (singular, informal) | vous venez | You come/are coming (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle vient | He/She comes/is coming | ils/elles viennent | They come/are coming |
While the verb venir ends in -ir, it’s important to note that it does not follow the patterns of regular -IR verbs in French. You must learn these conjugations separately. Here are some examples of venir conjugations in the present tense:
- Il vient à quelle heure ? = He’s coming at what time? (What time is he coming?)
- Vous venez au restaurant ? = Are you coming to the restaurant?
Whether speaking in real time about making plans, coordinating schedules, or setting up meetings, learning the venir conjugation in French in the present tense is essential.
French conjugations for venir in the past tenses
French has two main tenses for speaking in the past: the passé composé and the imparfait. So, mastering when to use passé composé vs. imparfait is very useful in French.
Conjugating venir in the passé composé (simple past tense/present perfect tense)
In the passé composé, venir is one of the verbs that uses être (to be) as the auxiliary/helping verb. This also means that the past participle venu (came) needs to follow French gender rules and agree with the subject in gender (it also needs to agree in number). Add an -e for feminine subjects and/or an -s for plural.
In the table below, letters in parentheses may need to be used, depending on who is talking or being talked about:
| je suis venu(e) | I came | nous sommes venu(e)s | We came |
| tu es venu(e) | You came (singular, informal) | vous êtes venu(e)(s) | You came (plural and/or formal) |
| il est venuelle est venue | He/She came | ils sont venuselles sont venues | They came |
Conjugating venir in the imparfait (imperfect tense)
In the imparfait, venir is much simpler to conjugate, as you do not need to worry about gender or number agreement.
| je venais | I came/used to come/was coming | nous venions | We came/used to come/were coming |
| tu venais | You came/used to come/were coming (singular, informal) | vous veniez | You came/used to come/were coming (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle venait | He/She came/used to come/was coming | ils/elles venaient | They came/used to come/were coming |
Conjugating venir in the passé simple (literary past)
While not usually spoken, it is important to recognize the forms of the passé simple in written form. It’s most often used in literature and journalism.
| je vins | I came | nous vînmes | We came |
| tu vins | You came (singular, informal) | vous vîntes | You came (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle vint | He/She came | ils/elles vinrent | They came |
Conjugating venir in the plus-que-parfait (pluperfect tense)
To talk about events that had already happened when another past event occurred, use the plus-que-parfait. Be sure to make your past participle agree in number and gender, like with the passé composé.
| j’étais venu(e) | I had come | nous étions venu(e)s | We had come |
| tu étais venu(e) | You had come (singular, informal) | vous étiez venu(e)(s) | You had come (plural and/or formal) |
| il était venuelle était venue | He/She had come | ils étaient venuselles étaient venues | They had come |
Venir conjugation in the future tenses
There are two main future tenses in French: the futur proche used to talk about the near future, and the futur simple used to talk about the more distant future.
Conjugating venir in the futur proche (near future tense)
The futur proche is very easy: Conjugate the verb aller (to go) and then add the infinitive venir:
| je vais venir | I am going to come | nous allons venir | We are going to come |
| tu vas venir | You are going to come (singular, informal) | vous allez venir | You are going to come (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle va venir | He/She is going to come | ils/elles vont venir | They are going to come |
Conjugating venir in the futur simple (simple future tense)
The futur simple is “simple” for good reason: It involves only one word for each venir conjugation:
| je viendrai | I will come | nous viendrons | We will come |
| tu viendras | You will come (singular, informal) | vous viendrez | You will come (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle viendra | He/She will come | ils/elles viendront | They will come |
Conjugating venir in the futur antérieur (future perfect tense)
To say something will have already happened at a future date, use the futur antérieur. Because its formula is similar to the passé composé, be sure that your past participle agrees in gender and number. The auxiliary verb être is conjugated in the future tense.
| je serai venu(e) | I will have come | nous serons venu(e)s | We will have come |
| tu seras venu(e) | You will have come (singular, informal) | vous serez venu(e)(s) | You will have come (plural and/or formal) |
| il sera venuelle sera venue | He/She will have come | ils seront venuselles seront venues | They will have come |
Conjugating venir in le conditionnel (conditional tense)
Another helpful verb tense to know is le conditionnel. In English, we use the word “would” to express the conditional. For the past conditional tense, you use “would have” to most often express regret. Here are the conjugations for both:
| je viendrais | I would come | nous viendrions | We would come |
| tu viendrais | You would come (singular, informal) | vous viendriez | You would come (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle viendrait | He/She would come | ils/elles viendraient | They would come |
In the conditionnel passé, be sure to make the past participle agree:
| je serais venu(e) | I would have come | nous serions venu(e)s | We would have come |
| tu serais venu(e) | You would have come (singular, informal) | vous seriez venu(e)(s) | You would have come (plural and/or formal) |
| il serait venuelle serait venue | He/She would have come | ils seraient venuselles seraient venues | They would have come |
French conjugations of venir in the subjunctive mood (le subjonctif)
The subjunctive mood in French can be tricky to master, but it is a surefire way to sound fluent. French speakers use le subjonctif to express their wants, needs, and doubts (among other things). Most commonly used is le subjonctif présent (present subjunctive), but you’ll see the subjonctif passé (past subjunctive) in journalism and literature.
| je vienne | I come | nous venions | We come |
| tu viennes | You come (singular, informal) | vous veniez | You come (plural and/or formal) |
| il/elle vienne | (that) He/She comes | ils/elles viennent | They come |
Once again, make sure the past participle agrees with your subject in gender and number:
| je sois venu(e) | I came | nous soyons venu(e)s | We came |
| tu sois venu(e) | You came (singular, informal) | vous soyez venu(e)(s) | You came (plural and/or formal) |
| il soit venuelle soit venue | He/She came | ils soient venuselles soient venues | They came |
Conjugations of venir in the impératif (imperative)
To give commands, we use the imperative. Because you would not give a command to yourself, for example, not every subject pronoun has a form in the impératif. You only use the tu (“you” singular), nous (“we”), and vous (“you” plural or formal) forms.
- Viens ! = Come! (singular)
- Venons ! = Let’s come!
- Venez ! = Come! (plural and/or formal)
A very common expression in French that uses the impératif in the vous form is venez nombreux, which roughly translates to “come one, come all.”
Key takeaways for venir conjugation in French
Whether you want to make plans to travel or end up in a French-speaking office, knowing the French conjugations for venir is important. In addition to learning French with Rosetta Stone, remember the following when conjugating venir:
- Venir is not a regular -IR verb, and you must learn the conjugations separately.
- Use venir with de to talk about actions that have just taken place.
- Used with d’où (from where), easily ask others where they come from using venir.
0 Commentaires