A double n, a d that comes from nowhere, and être in the past.
Venir conjugation follows a pattern of its own: je viens, nous venons, ils viennent, je viendrai. Venir means to come, and it is irregular, but in a predictable way: once you know venir, you can conjugate revenir, devenir, tenir and a whole family of verbs built the same way.
Below are the common tenses of venir in tables and lists, why the passé composé takes être, how venir de says that something has just happened, and the spelling mistakes learners make most often.
The present changes its stem: vien- for je, tu and il, ven- for nous and vous, and vienn- with a double n for ils.
| Subject | Venir | Example |
|---|---|---|
| je | viens | Je viens avec toi. |
| tu | viens | Tu viens ce soir ? |
| il, elle, on | vient | Il vient tous les lundis. |
| nous | venons | Nous venons en train. |
| vous | venez | Vous venez d'où ? |
| ils, elles | viennent | Elles viennent à la fête. |
The singular ends in s, s, t, as in many irregular verbs: je viens, tu viens, il vient. Je viens, tu viens and il vient all sound the same, so only the subject tells you which ending to write.
Venir de followed by an infinitive says that something has just happened. Only venir is conjugated; the second verb stays in the infinitive:
Before a vowel, de becomes d'. In the imparfait, the same structure moves the recent past into the past: Je venais de sortir quand il a appelé, I had just gone out when he called.
Without an infinitive, venir de simply gives where someone or something comes from: Je viens de Lyon. Ce fromage vient de Normandie.
Venir takes être in the passé composé, never avoir. Because the auxiliary is être, the past participle venu agrees with the subject:
The full rules for this agreement are on the page about past participle agreement with être, and the present of the auxiliary is in the guide to être conjugation. The plus-que-parfait works the same way with the imparfait of être: j'étais venu, elles étaient venues.
The imparfait is regular: the stem ven- with the usual endings.
Use it for habits and descriptions in the past: Quand j'étais petit, ma grand-mère venait le mercredi. Nous venions souvent ici.
The future stem is viendr-, with a d that does not appear in the infinitive:
The conditional uses the same stem with the imparfait endings: je viendrais, tu viendrais, il viendrait, nous viendrions, vous viendriez, ils viendraient. Je viendrai (I will come) and je viendrais (I would come) sound almost the same, so the meaning of the sentence decides. When to use this future rather than je vais venir is explained in the guide to the French future tense.
The present subjunctive keeps the double n of ils viennent, except with nous and vous:
Il faut que tu viennes demain. Que nous venions and que vous veniez are spelled exactly like the imparfait.
The imperative has three forms: viens, venons, venez. Viens ici ! Venez quand vous voulez.
In books you will also meet the passé simple, on the stem vin-: il vint, ils vinrent, nous vînmes, vous vîntes. Il vint sounds like vin (wine) and vingt (twenty): only the spelling tells them apart.
A whole family of verbs is conjugated exactly like venir in every tense: je reviens, ils deviennent, je tiendrai, qu'il obtienne. Only the auxiliary of the passé composé can change.
| Verb | Auxiliary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| revenir | être | Elle est revenue hier. |
| devenir | être | Ils sont devenus amis. |
| se souvenir | être | Je me suis souvenu de son nom. |
| prévenir | avoir | J'ai prévenu mes parents. |
| tenir | avoir | Il a tenu sa promesse. |
| obtenir | avoir | Nous avons obtenu le visa. |
Revenir, devenir, parvenir, intervenir and se souvenir take être. Prévenir and the tenir family (tenir, obtenir, retenir, appartenir, maintenir, soutenir) take avoir.
Je viens, nous venons, ils viennent in the present; je suis venu with être and an agreeing participle; je venais, je viendrai, je viendrais, que je vienne. Add de and an infinitive and you get the recent past: je viens de finir. The double n and the d of the future are the spellings that slip most often, and writing them from dictation, as you do in Apostrophe·, is a quick way to check you have them.
What is venir in the present tense?
Je viens, tu viens, il vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils viennent. The ils form has a double n.
Is venir conjugated with être or avoir?
With être: je suis venu, elle est venue, ils sont venus. The past participle agrees with the subject.
What does venir de + infinitive mean?
It means to have just done something: je viens de manger, I have just eaten. In the imparfait, je venais de manger means I had just eaten.
What is the future tense of venir?
Je viendrai, tu viendras, il viendra, nous viendrons, vous viendrez, ils viendront. The same stem, viendr-, gives the conditional: je viendrais.
Which verbs are conjugated like venir?
Revenir, devenir, parvenir, intervenir, prévenir and se souvenir, plus the tenir family: tenir, obtenir, retenir, appartenir, maintenir. They share every form; only the auxiliary can differ.
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