Group 3: irregular verbs overview

Summary

Group 3 gathers all the irregular verbs whose stems or endings do not follow the regular -er or -ir (-iss-) patterns.

Explanation

The third group is the catch-all for irregular verbs — those that do not follow group 1 (-er) or group 2 (-ir with -iss-). It contains the -ir verbs that do not take -iss- (partir, venir, ouvrir, dormir), all verbs ending in -re (prendre, faire, dire, mettre) and -oir (voir, pouvoir, vouloir, devoir), and the irregular aller. It is a closed group: no new group 3 verbs are created, which is why innovation always lands in group 1.

Unlike the first two groups, the third is not one model but a collection of patterns and one-offs. Several smaller families recur and are worth recognising: -dre verbs like attendre and vendre (je vends, il vend), -tir verbs like partir and sortir (je pars, nous partons), -frir/-vrir verbs like ouvrir and offrir (which surprisingly take -er endings: j'ouvre), and -uire verbs like conduire (je conduis). A handful — être, avoir, aller, faire — are so irregular they stand alone.

Why learn them early despite the irregularity? Because group 3 contains the most frequent verbs in the language: être, avoir, aller, faire, dire, pouvoir, vouloir, venir, prendre and voir are used constantly, and many also serve as auxiliaries or semi-auxiliaries (être and avoir build compound tenses; aller forms the near future). You simply cannot speak French without them, so the effort pays off immediately.

The central difficulty is that the stem often changes between the singular and the plural, and sometimes again in the third-person plural: je viens / nous venons / ils viennent; je peux / nous pouvons / ils peuvent; je prends / nous prenons / ils prennent. These stem shifts also ripple into other tenses (the futur and conditionnel use special stems: je viendrai, je pourrai). Because of this, the safe approach is to learn each verb form by form rather than deriving it from a single rule.

Rule of thumb: treat every -re and -oir verb, plus any -ir verb that does not take -iss-, as group 3 to be looked up and memorised; expect the stem to shift across persons, and prioritise the dozen highest-frequency irregulars first.

Examples

Je prends le bus et je vais au travail. — I take the bus and I go to work. (prendre and aller are both group 3.)

Nous venons de Paris et nous faisons du sport. — We come from Paris and we do sport.

Ils veulent partir, mais ils ne peuvent pas. — They want to leave, but they can't. (vouloir and pouvoir are -oir verbs; partir is an -ir verb without -iss-.)

Tu ouvres la fenêtre et tu attends dehors. — You open the window and wait outside. (ouvrir takes -er endings (tu ouvres); attendre is a -dre verb.)

Elle dit la vérité et elle voit le problème. — She tells the truth and she sees the problem.

Common mistakes

Prerequisites

• The three verb groups

Related rules

• The three verb groups
• Group 1: regular -er verbs
• Group 2: regular -ir verbs (-iss-, finir)
• Auxiliary selection: avoir vs être