French guides · Verb tables + audio
Lire: to read — and the s that comes from nowhere.
Lire means “to read”. It is a short verb with one oddity: the plural grows an s that the infinitive gives no hint of — nous lisons, not nous lirons, which is in fact the futur. That single letter is the difference between “we read” and “we will read”, so it is worth a minute.
Présent — li- and lis-
The singular is as small as French gets — lis, lis, lit, all pronounced “lee”. The plural inserts an s, which is pronounced as a z between the two vowels: lisons is “lee-ZOHN”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je lis | I read | |
| tu lis | you read | |
| il / elle lit | he / she reads | |
| nous lisons | we read | |
| vous lisez | you read | |
| ils / elles lisent | they read |
One letter apart and both real. Lisons (with s) is the présent, “we read”. Lirons (with r) is the futur, “we will read”. They are clearly different out loud — a buzzing z against a rolled r — but easy to confuse on the page.
Dire works the same way (dis / disons), with the one famous difference: lire has an entirely regular vous lisez, while dire has vous dites.
Reading, aloud and otherwise
A handful of phrases that come up constantly once you start reading in French:
| French | Means | |
|---|---|---|
| lire à haute voix | to read aloud | literally “in a high voice” |
| je lis un roman | I’m reading a novel | no continuous tense needed |
| ça se lit bien | it’s an easy read | literally “it reads itself well” |
| j’ai lu que… | I read that… | for something you came across |
| relire | to reread, to proofread | same conjugation throughout |
French has no continuous tense. Je lis covers both “I read” and “I am reading”, and context decides. If you must stress that it is happening right now, the phrase is je suis en train de lire.
Passé composé — lu
With avoir, participle lu. One of a small group of participles that end in u with no warning from the infinitive — like vu, bu, su and pu.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai lu | I read / have read | |
| tu as lu | you read / have read | |
| il / elle a lu | he / she read / have read | |
| nous avons lu | we read / have read | |
| vous avez lu | you read / have read | |
| ils / elles ont lu | they read / have read |
Imparfait — from lis-
Je lisais. This is the natural tense for describing what you used to read, or what you were in the middle of when something interrupted.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je lisais | I used to read / was reading | |
| tu lisais | you used to read / was reading | |
| il / elle lisait | he / she used to read / was reading | |
| nous lisions | we used to read / was reading | |
| vous lisiez | you used to read / was reading | |
| ils / elles lisaient | they used to read / was reading |
Futur and conditionnel — lir-
The infinitive minus its e, and the s gone: je lirai.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je lirai | I will read | |
| tu liras | you will read | |
| il / elle lira | he / she will read | |
| nous lirons | we will read | |
| vous lirez | you will read | |
| ils / elles liront | they will read |
Conditionnel — would read
Je lirais — and, with bien, a soft way of saying you fancy something: je lirais bien quelque chose de léger.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je lirais | I would read | |
| tu lirais | you would read | |
| il / elle lirait | he / she would read | |
| nous lirions | we would read | |
| vous liriez | you would read | |
| ils / elles liraient | they would read |
Subjonctif — lise
Regular from the plural stem: que je lise. No stem change anywhere.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je lise | (that) I read | |
| tu lises | (that) you read | |
| il / elle lise | (that) he / she read | |
| nous lisions | (that) we read | |
| vous lisiez | (that) you read | |
| ils / elles lisent | (that) they read |
Impératif — read this
Lis !, lisons, lisez ! — the everyday forms on worksheets and in instructions: lisez le texte.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| lis ! | read! (to one person you know) | |
| lisons ! | let’s read! | |
| lisez ! | read! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had read
J’avais lu. And if the object comes first, it agrees: la lettre que j’avais lue.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais lu | I had read | |
| tu avais lu | you had read | |
| il / elle avait lu | he / she had read | |
| nous avions lu | we had read | |
| vous aviez lu | you had read | |
| ils / elles avaient lu | they had read |
Hear it, then say it
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Quick answers
Lire, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.