Mastering the Four Essential French Verbs: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
When learning French, certain verbs stand out as essential building blocks of communication. Among them, être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), and faire (to do/make) are the most important. These verbs are not only used on their own but also play a crucial role in forming compound tenses, expressions, and idioms. You can download these PDF lesson guides in my private French Grammar Library.
Because they are irregular, their conjugations don’t always follow predictable patterns, making them challenging for learners. But once you master these four verbs, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of French grammar and be able to express yourself more fluently in a variety of tenses.
I’ve put together some downloadable être – aller – avoir – faire conjugation charts in nine essential tenses: present, passé composé, imperfect, futur simple, present conditional, plus-que-parfait, past conditional, futur antérieur, and present subjunctive. Keep these handy as a quick reference while you study and practice!
Download your conjugation charts below and start mastering these must-know verbs today!
Present Tense: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The present tense is one of the most important to master, as it’s used in everyday conversation and forms the foundation for many other tenses. Below, you’ll find être – aller – avoir – faire conjugation charts to help you learn and review these essential verbs. Since they are irregular, their forms don’t follow standard patterns, so be sure to practice them regularly! Take a quiz to see how well you know these conjugations in the present tense!
Passé Composé: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The passé composé is one of the most commonly used past tenses in French, helping you talk about completed actions and past events. Since être, aller, avoir, and faire are all irregular, their past participles and auxiliary verbs require special attention.
Imperfect Tense: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The imperfect tense (imparfait) is essential for describing past habits, ongoing actions, and setting the scene in storytelling. While most verbs follow a regular pattern in this tense, être, aller, avoir, and faire have unique forms that you’ll need to memorize.
Futur Simple Tense: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The futur simple is used to talk about future events, intentions, and predictions. While many French verbs follow a regular pattern in this tense, être, aller, avoir, and faire have irregular stems that you’ll need to learn.
Present Conditional: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The present conditional tense is used to express desires, polite requests, or hypothetical situations. While it shares some similarities with the futur simple, its conjugations are based on the imperfect tense.
Plus-Que-Parfait Tense: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The plus-que-parfait tense is used to describe actions that had already been completed before another past event. It’s essentially the past of the past! Since être, aller, avoir, and faire are irregular, their conjugations in the plus-que-parfait require extra attention. The être – aller – avoir – faire conjugation charts below will help you navigate these tricky forms and use them accurately in your past narratives.
Past Conditional: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The past conditional tense is used to talk about actions that would have happened in the past under certain conditions. It’s often used to express regrets or hypothetical situations. Like the present conditional, the être, aller, avoir, and faire conjugations in the past conditional are formed with the imperfect of avoir or être as auxiliary verbs, along with the past participle.
Futur Antérieur Tense: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The futur antérieur is a tense used to talk about actions that will have been completed before a future point in time. It’s a bit like the future version of the plus-que-parfait.
Present Subjunctive: Être – Aller – Avoir – Faire Conjugation Charts
The present subjunctive tense is used to express doubts, desires, emotions, or hypothetical situations. It often appears in dependent clauses following certain expressions or verbs. Since être, aller, avoir, and faire are irregular, their subjunctive forms can be tricky.
Incorporating these être – aller – avoir – faire conjugation charts into your French learning routine will make a huge difference in your ability to communicate with confidence. These four verbs are essential in everyday conversation, and mastering their conjugations will help you navigate a wide range of tenses with ease. Keep practicing, refer to the charts as needed, and soon, these irregular verbs will feel like second nature. Bonne étude et bon courage !
