French guides · Verb tables + audio
Envoyer: a regular verb with one rogue tense.
Envoyer means “to send”, and for most of its table it is an ordinary -yer verb: the y turns into an i in the four forms with silent endings. Then the futur arrives and throws the whole thing out. J’enverrai — two rs, no y, no i, nothing you could have derived. It is one of a very short list of French verbs whose futur simply has to be memorised.
Présent — y becomes i
Wherever the ending is silent — je, tu, il, ils — the y becomes i. Where the ending is pronounced, in nous and vous, the y stays.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’envoie | I send | |
| tu envoies | you send | |
| il / elle envoie | he / she sends | |
| nous envoyons | we send | |
| vous envoyez | you send | |
| ils / elles envoient | they send |
A y between two vowels is pulled in two directions. When the following ending is silent there is effectively no second vowel left to bridge to, so the y collapses back to a plain i. Every -oyer and -uyer verb does this without exception: nettoyer (to clean), employer, ennuyer (to bore), essuyer (to wipe).
Payer and essayer may swap or not — both spellings are correct. -oyer and -uyer verbs like this one have no such licence: the swap is compulsory.
Sending things, and one idiom
Straightforward, with a preposition to watch and one phrase worth knowing so you recognise it rather than use it.
| French | Means | |
|---|---|---|
| j’envoie un message | I’m sending a message | |
| je lui envoie un mail | I’m sending him / her an email | the person takes à, so lui |
| envoyer chercher | to send for | literally “send to look for” |
| envoyer promener quelqu’un | to tell someone to get lost | literally “send them for a walk” |
You send something to somebody, so the person is an indirect object: je lui envoie, je leur envoie. Je l’envoie means you are sending it.
Passé composé — envoyé
Regular, keeping the y: envoyé, with avoir.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai envoyé | I sent / have sent | |
| tu as envoyé | you sent / have sent | |
| il / elle a envoyé | he / she sent / have sent | |
| nous avons envoyé | we sent / have sent | |
| vous avez envoyé | you sent / have sent | |
| ils / elles ont envoyé | they sent / have sent |
Imparfait — and a double letter
Built from envoyons, so the y runs through the tense: j’envoyais.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’envoyais | I used to send / was sending | |
| tu envoyais | you used to send / was sending | |
| il / elle envoyait | he / she used to send / was sending | |
| nous envoyions | we used to send / was sending | |
| vous envoyiez | you used to send / was sending | |
| ils / elles envoyaient | they used to send / was sending |
The stem ends in y and the ending -ions starts with i, so both letters survive. It is near-identical in sound to the présent nous envoyons, and dropping the i is a common written slip — the same trap as nous voyions.
Futur and conditionnel — the irregular bit
The stem is enverr-. Not envoier-, not envoyer- — enverr-, with two rs, like voir’s verr- and pouvoir’s pourr-. There is no rule; this is a memorisation.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’enverrai | I will send | |
| tu enverras | you will send | |
| il / elle enverra | he / she will send | |
| nous enverrons | we will send | |
| vous enverrez | you will send | |
| ils / elles enverront | they will send |
Nettoyer gives je nettoierai, keeping the swapped i. Only envoyer and its compound renvoyer take -err-.
Conditionnel — would send
Same rogue stem: j’enverrais.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’enverrais | I would send | |
| tu enverrais | you would send | |
| il / elle enverrait | he / she would send | |
| nous enverrions | we would send | |
| vous enverriez | you would send | |
| ils / elles enverraient | they would send |
Subjonctif — back to the boot
The présent’s pattern returns — i in the boot, y for nous and vous.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’envoie | (that) I send | |
| tu envoies | (that) you send | |
| il / elle envoie | (that) he / she send | |
| nous envoyions | (that) we send | |
| vous envoyiez | (that) you send | |
| ils / elles envoient | (that) they send |
Impératif — send it
Envoie ! with no s, and the swapped i. With a pronoun: envoie-moi un message.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| envoie ! | send! (to one person you know) | |
| envoyons ! | let’s send! | |
| envoyez ! | send! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had sent
J’avais envoyé.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais envoyé | I had sent | |
| tu avais envoyé | you had sent | |
| il / elle avait envoyé | he / she had sent | |
| nous avions envoyé | we had sent | |
| vous aviez envoyé | you had sent | |
| ils / elles avaient envoyé | they had sent |
Hear it, then say it
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Quick answers
Envoyer, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.