152 - 25 Must-Know French Verbs for Beginners
In this episode, you'll learn 25 essential French verbs that every beginner needs to know.
After the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practice!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Transcript
Hello everyone, bonjour à tous! Welcome back to French Made Easy, this is episode number 152, numéro 152.
Today, I’ll share 25 essential French verbs that every beginner needs to know. I'll give you each French verb, with its English translation, and a simple example sentence in the present tense so you can have an idea of how to use this verb.
Along with today’s lesson, I’ve created a comprehensive and honestly pretty amazing cheat sheet, if I say so myself, called 25 Essential French Verbs for Beginners 📓⚡️. And this big cheat sheet, includes conjugation tables for all these 25 verbs, for all beginners tenses and moods—present, past, future, subjunctive, conditional, and imperative, you get it all. It’s a bit cheat sheet so be aware that you’re not going to go through it all today. And obviously you’ll get example phrases to show you how these verbs are used. You can grab your copy, for free, from the link in the episode description, on your podcast platform.
Let’s get started with our verbs. Today I’ll only give you an example sentence in the present tense, but download the cheat sheet and you’ll get the conjugation table and example sentences for each beginner tense.
Être (to be) - Je suis content. (I am happy.)
Avoir (to have) - Elle a une voiture. (She has a car.)
Aller (to go) - Nous allons au marché. (We are going to the market.)
Faire (to do, make) - Il fait du bruit. (He is making noise.)
Dire (to say, tell) - Vous dites toujours la vérité. (You always tell the truth.)
Pouvoir (to be able to) - Je peux t’aider. (I can help you.)
Vouloir (to want) - Elles veulent partir tôt. (They want to leave early.)
Venir (to come) - Est-ce que tu viens demain ? (Are you coming tomorrow?)
Voir (to see) - Je vois beaucoup d’étoiles. (I see a lot of stars.)
Savoir (to know) - Nous savons parler français. (We know how to speak French.)
Prendre (to take) - Il prend le train. (He takes the train.)
Parler (to speak) - Elle parle trois langues. (She speaks three languages.)
Aimer (to like, to love) - On aime bien aller au cinéma. (We like to go the cinema.)
Manger (to eat) - Tu manges une pomme. (You are eating an apple.)
Boire (to drink) - Ils boivent beaucoup de café. (They drink a lot coffee.)
Comprendre (to understand) - Je comprends cette leçon. (I understand this lesson.)
Apprendre (to learn) - Vous apprenez vite. (You learn quickly.)
Écrire (to write) - Il écrit un email. (He writes an email.)
Ouvrir (to open) - Elle ouvre la porte. (She opens the door.)
Travailler (to work) - Nous ne travaillons plus ici. (We don’t work here anymore.)
Finir (to finish) - Est-ce que tu as fini tes devoirs ? (Have you finished your homework?)
Habiter (to live) - Ils habitent à Bordeaux. (They live in Bordeaux.)
Connaître (to know, be familiar with) - Je connais bien ce restaurant. (I know this restaurant well.)
Jouer (to play) - Vous jouez au football. (You play soccer.)
Marcher (to walk) - Elle marche tous les jours. (She walks every day.)
Quick recap of these verbs:
Être (to be)
Avoir (to have)
Aller (to go)
Faire (to do, make)
Dire (to say, tell)
Pouvoir (to be able to)
Vouloir (to want)
Venir (to come)
Voir (to see)
Savoir (to know)
Prendre (to take)
Parler (to speak)
Aimer (to like, to love)
Manger (to eat)
Boire (to drink)
Comprendre (to understand)
Apprendre (to learn)
Écrire (to write)
Ouvrir (to open)
Travailler (to work)
Finir (to finish)
Habiter (to live)
Connaître (to know, be familiar with)
Jouer (to play)
Marcher (to walk)
And that’s all for today’s episode on the 25 must-know French verbs for beginners. I hope you found this episode helpful. Don’t forget to download your free cheat sheet to dive deeper into each verb. Thanks for listening, and I'll chat with you in the next episode. À bientôt!