French guides · Verb tables + audio
Faire: to do, to make, and to be sunny.
Faire means “to do” and “to make” — English needs two verbs where French uses one. But its real range is wider than either: faire is also how French talks about the weather, sport and hobbies, and housework. Il fait beau is “it’s nice out”. Je fais du vélo is “I cycle”. Learning this one verb quietly hands you several hundred everyday sentences.
Présent — and a famously odd vous form
The singular forms behave. The plural does not: nous faisons, vous faites, ils font pull in three different directions.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je fais | I do / make | |
| tu fais | you do / make | |
| il / elle fait | he / she does / makes | |
| nous faisons | we do / make | |
| vous faites | you do / make | |
| ils / elles font | they do / make |
Almost every verb in French ends its vous form in -ez. Exactly three do not: vous êtes, vous faites and vous dites. That is the complete list, which makes vous faisez a mistake worth never making.
The ai here does not say “eh”. Nous faisons is “noo fuh-ZOHN”, with a soft, swallowed middle. The same happens right through the imparfait — je faisais is “zhuh fuh-ZEH”. It is the one spelling in French that reliably lies to you.
The weather is a thing French does
English says the weather is something. French says it does something, using the impersonal il — the same “it” as in “it’s raining”, referring to nothing in particular.
| French | Say it | Means |
|---|---|---|
| il fait beau | eel feh BOH | it’s nice / fine weather |
| il fait mauvais | eel feh moh-VEH | the weather’s bad |
| il fait chaud | eel feh SHOH | it’s hot |
| il fait froid | eel feh FRWAH | it’s cold |
| il fait du vent | eel feh dew VAHN | it’s windy |
| il fait du soleil | eel feh dew so-LAY | it’s sunny |
| il fait 20 degrés | eel feh van deh-GRAY | it’s 20 degrees |
These two have their own verbs and refuse faire: il pleut (it’s raining) and il neige (it’s snowing). Everything else in the forecast is faire.
Sport, hobbies and housework
Where English has a specific verb — to cycle, to ski, to cook — French very often uses faire plus the activity. The pattern is faire du / de la / des, chosen by the gender of what follows.
| French | Means |
|---|---|
| faire du sport | to exercise |
| faire du vélo | to cycle |
| faire de la natation | to swim (as a sport) |
| faire de la musique | to play music |
| faire les courses | to do the food shopping |
| faire la cuisine | to cook |
| faire la vaisselle | to do the washing-up |
| faire le ménage | to do the housework |
| faire la queue | to queue up |
| faire attention | to pay attention / be careful |
| faire un voyage | to take a trip |
Les courses is the food shopping — the supermarket run. Faire du shopping is the fun kind, for clothes. Mixing them up is harmless but instantly noticeable.
Passé composé
The participle is fait — the same word as the il form of the présent, which trips people up in reading. Il fait is “he does”; il a fait is “he did”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai fait | I did / have done | |
| tu as fait | you did / have done | |
| il / elle a fait | he / she did / have done | |
| nous avons fait | we did / have done | |
| vous avez fait | you did / have done | |
| ils / elles ont fait | they did / have done |
Imparfait — watch the sound, not the spelling
Built regularly from nous faisons, so the stem is fais-. The catch is entirely in the pronunciation: every form here says “fuh-”, never “fay-”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je faisais | I used to do / was doing | |
| tu faisais | you used to do / was doing | |
| il / elle faisait | he / she used to do / was doing | |
| nous faisions | we used to do / was doing | |
| vous faisiez | you used to do / was doing | |
| ils / elles faisaient | they used to do / was doing |
Futur and conditionnel — the fer- stem
The stem is fer-, which at least is short and memorable. Je ferai, “I will do”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je ferai | I will do | |
| tu feras | you will do | |
| il / elle fera | he / she will do | |
| nous ferons | we will do | |
| vous ferez | you will do | |
| ils / elles feront | they will do |
Conditionnel
Qu’est-ce que tu ferais ? — “what would you do?” — is the conditionnel doing its most natural job.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je ferais | I would do | |
| tu ferais | you would do | |
| il / elle ferait | he / she would do | |
| nous ferions | we would do | |
| vous feriez | you would do | |
| ils / elles feraient | they would do |
Subjonctif — que je fasse
Irregular, common, and worth knowing: il faut que je fasse, “I have to do”. The fass- stem appears nowhere else in the verb.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je fasse | (that) I do | |
| tu fasses | (that) you do | |
| il / elle fasse | (that) he / she do | |
| nous fassions | (that) we do | |
| vous fassiez | (that) you do | |
| ils / elles fassent | (that) they do |
Impératif, and making someone do something
Fais attention ! — “be careful!” — is the imperative you will hear most.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| fais ! | do! (to one person you know) | |
| faisons ! | let’s do! | |
| faites ! | do! (formal, or to a group) |
One construction worth meeting early: faire + another verb means to have something done, or to make someone do it. Je fais réparer ma voiture is “I’m getting my car repaired” — not that you are repairing it yourself. Il m’a fait rire is “he made me laugh”.
Plus-que-parfait
J’avais fait — “I had done”, for something already finished before the point in the past you are describing.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais fait | I had done | |
| tu avais fait | you had done | |
| il / elle avait fait | he / she had done | |
| nous avions fait | we had done | |
| vous aviez fait | you had done | |
| ils / elles avaient fait | they had done |
Hear it, then say it
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Quick answers
Faire, answered.
Where the verb goes beyond “do” and “make”.