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Seeing a French verb
The French verb voir usually means "to see" and has irregular conjugations in just about every tense and mood.
Voir = to see
| Est-ce que tu vois mes lunettes ? | Do you see my glasses? | |
| Je n’ai pas vu la voiture. | I didn’t see the car. |
Voir = to see, understand
| Voyez-vous la différence ? | Do you see the difference? | |
| Oui, je vois maintenant. | Yes, I see now. |
Voir = to see, witness, experience, live through
| Ma grand-mère a vu la chute de l’Union soviétique. | My grandmother saw the collapse of the Soviet Union. | |
| Je n’ai jamais vu une telle impolitesse ! | I’ve never seen such rudeness! |
Voir + another verb
Verb of perception: voir plus the infinitive (with no preposition in between)
| Je vois danser les enfants. | I see the kids dancing. | |
| Je l’ai vu arriver il y a 10 minutes. | I saw him arrive 10 minutes ago. |
Aller voir = to go (and) see, to find out
| Je vais voir mon oncle à l’hôpital. | I’m going to see my uncle in the hospital. | |
| Va voir s’il y a un problème. | Go and see if there’s a problem. |
Faire voir = to show
| Fais voir ! | Let me see! Show me! | |
| Fais-moi voir le contrat. | Show me the contract. |
Voir venir (informal) = to foresee
| Il t’arrivera des soucis, ça je le vois venir. | You’re going to get in trouble, I see it coming. | |
| Quelle arnaque, ils t’ont vu venir ! | What a rip-off, they saw you coming! |
Se voir
1) Pronominal verb
a) Reflexive – to see oneself
| Je n’aime pas me voir à la télé. | I don’t like seeing myself on TV. | |
| Est-ce que tu te voir y vivre ? | Do you see yourself living there? |
(figurative) to find oneself, be in the position of
| Je me vois contrainte de démissionner. | I find myself obliged to resign. | |
| Nous nous voyons dans la triste obligation de vous dire … | Sadly, we find ourselves obliged to tell you … |
b) Reciprocal – to see each other
| Ils se sont vus hier. | They saw each other yesterday. | |
| Est-ce que vous vous êtes vus au ciné ? | Did you see each other at the movie theater? |
2) Passive
a) to happen, occur
| Cela se voit régulièrement. | That happens regularly. | |
| Cela ne s’est jamais vu ! | That’s unheard of! |
b) se voir + past participle = to be / find oneself
| Nous nous voyons coincés. | We find ourselves trapped. | |
| Je me suis vu expulsé. | I was kicked out. |
Voir in action
Related lessons
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