Venir Conjugation in French: The Ultimate Guide and Full Charts

The verb venir (to come) is one of the top ten most common irregular verbs in the French language. Classified within the third group, it exhibits stem changes across various tenses and relies on the auxiliary être for compound forms.

Whether you are constructing sentences in the present tense or expressing the immediate past (le passé récent), mastering the conjugation of venir is essential for achieving fluency. Here is the definitive pedagogical reference guide.

1. Present Indicative (Présent de l'indicatif)

In the present tense, venir changes its stem three times: vien- for singular pronouns, ven- for nous and vous, and vienn- for ils/elles.

Subject Pronoun Conjugation English Translation
:--- :--- :---
Je viens I come / I am coming
Tu viens You come (informal)
Il / Elle / On vient He / She / One comes
Nous venons We come
Vous venez You come (formal/plural)
Ils / Elles viennent They come

Pronunciation Note: The forms viens, viens, and vient are homophones pronounced /vjɛ̃/. The third-person plural viennent is pronounced /vjɛn/.

2. Past Tenses: Passé Composé & Imparfait

The Passé Composé

Because venir denotes motion, it takes être as its auxiliary verb. Consequently, the past participle venu must agree in gender (add -e) and number (add -s) with the grammatical subject.

  • Je suis venu(e) — I came / I have come
  • Tu es venu(e) — You came
  • Il est venu / Elle est venue — He came / She came
  • Nous sommes venus / venues — We came
  • Vous êtes venu(e)(s) — You came
  • Ils sont venus / Elles sont venues — They came

    • The Imparfait (Imperfect)

To form the imperfect tense, take the stem of the nous form in the present indicative (ven-) and append the regular imperfect endings:

  • Je venais (I used to come / I was coming)
  • Tu venais
  • Il / Elle / On venait
  • Nous venions
  • Vous veniez
  • Ils / Elles venaient

    • 3. Future (Futur Simple) & Conditional (Conditionnel Présent)

Both the future and conditional stems transform into viendr-.

Futur Simple

  • Je viendrai (I will come)
  • Tu viendras
  • Il / Elle / On viendra
  • Nous viendrons
  • Vous viendrez
  • Ils / Elles viendront

    • Conditionnel Présent

  • Je viendrais (I would come)
  • Tu viendrais
  • Il / Elle / On viendrait
  • Nous viendrions
  • Vous viendriez
  • Ils / Elles viendraient

    • 4. Subjunctive (Subjonctif Présent)

The subjunctive mood reflects necessity, emotion, or uncertainty. Venir alternates stems between the singular/third-person plural (vienn-) and the first/second-person plural (ven-):

  • Que je vienne
  • Que tu viennes
  • Qu'il / elle / on vienne
  • Que nous venions
  • Que vous veniez
  • Qu'ils / elles viennent

Example: « Il est important que vous veniez demain. » (It is important that you come tomorrow.)

5. Imperative (Impératif)

Used for commands and direct requests:

  • Viens ! — Come! (singular/informal)
  • Venons ! — Let's come!
  • Venez ! — Come! (plural/formal)

    • 6. The "Passé Récent": Expressing "To Have Just Done"

One of the most practical applications of venir is forming the immediate past tense using the grammatical formula:

$$\text{Subject} + \text{venir (present)} + \text{de} + \text{infinitive}$$

  • « Je viens de manger. » = I have just eaten.
  • « Nous venons d'arriver à la gare. » = We have just arrived at the train station.

    • 7. Derivative Verbs

  • Devenir (to become) — Auxiliary: être
  • Revenir (to come back) — Auxiliary: être
  • Parvenir (to reach / achieve) — Auxiliary: être
  • Prévenir (to warn / notify) — Auxiliary: avoir
  • Se souvenir (to remember) — Auxiliary: être

    • All verbs containing the root venir follow this identical inflection template:

By internalizing the patterns of venir, you effectively acquire the conjugations for half a dozen indispensable French verbs simultaneously.