Irregular Future and Conditional Stems

Radicaux irréguliers au futur et au conditionnel

Irregular French conditional stems
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

All regular French verbs and many irregular ones use their infinitives as future and conditional stems. But of course there are always exceptions – here are the few dozen verbs with irregular stems.

Stem-changing verbs

Stem-changing verbs have the same stem change in their future and conditional stems:

Similar verbs
appeler appeller- épeler, rappeler, renouveler
appuyer appuier- ennuyer, essuyer
employer emploier- nettoyer, noyer, tutoyer, etc.
essayer* essaier- balayer, effrayer, payer
gérer* gèrer célébrer, espérer, préférer, etc.
jeter jetter- feuilleter, hoqueter, projeter, rejeter
lever lèver- acheter, achever, mener, etc.

* The future and conditional stem change is optional for these two types of stem-changing verbs.

Irregular verbs

About 20 French verbs have irregular future and conditional stems:

Similar verbs
acquérir acquerr- conquérir, s’enquérir
aller ir-
avoir aur-
courir courr- concourir, discourir, parcourir, etc.
devoir devr-
envoyer enverr- renvoyer
être ser-
faire fer-
falloir faudr-
pleuvoir pleuvr-
pouvoir pourr-
savoir saur-
valoir vaudr-
venir viendr- devenir, tenir, obtenir, etc.
voir verr- revoir
vouloir voudr-

 Conseil concis

No matter the verb, whether regular, irregular, or stem-changing, the future / conditional stem always ends in -r.

 Related lessons

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French irregular future stems

Questions about French?

 Visit the Progress with Lawless French Q+A forum to get help from native French speakers and fellow learners.

More Lawless French

 Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter.

Support Lawless French

  This free website is created with love and a great deal of work.

If you love it, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation.

Your support is entirely optional but tremendously appreciated.

Leave a Reply