by Liz Allen

Created on: July 05, 2009

Voir is a useful verb to know; it is irregular in the present, perfect and future tenses and therefore needs careful study.

Present Tense

Je vois I see, I am seeing

Tu vois you see, you are seeing (singular, familiar)

Il voit he/it sees, he/it is seeing

Elle voit she/it sees, she/it is seeing

Nous voyons we see, we are seeing

Vous voyez you see, you are seeing (polite, plural)

Ils voient they see, they are seeing (m)

Elles voient they see, they are seeing (f)

Perfect Tense

The past participle, 'vu', is irregular but not difficult to learn.

J'ai vu I have seen, I saw, I did see

Tu as vu you have seen, you saw, you did see

Il a vu he has seen, he saw, he did see

Elle a vu she has seen, she saw, she did see

Nous avons vu we have seen, we saw, we did see

Vous avez vu you have seen, you saw, you did see

Ils/Elles ont vu they have seen, they saw, they did see

Future Tense

Voir has an irregular stem in the future tense, and therefore the conditional tense as well. Here are some example sentences using the future tense.

Je verrai mes amis dimanche. - I shall see my friends on Sunday.

Tu verras tout ce soir. - You will see everything this evening.

Il verra le dentiste demain. - He will see the dentist tomorrow.

Elle verra ce qu'elle pourra faire. - She will see what she can do.

Nous verrons les pyramides en Egypte. - We will see the pyramids in Egypt.

Vous verrez ce que je veux dire. - You will see what I mean.

Ils/elles verront grandir les enfants. - They will see the children grow up.

Imperfect Tense

Voir is regular in the imperfect tense, so there should be no problems forming it. Here again are some example sentences.

Je voyais ma soeur le samedi. - I used to see my sister on Saturdays.

Tu voyais les enfants au parc. - You used to see the children at the park.

On voyait la mer de cette chambre. - We (could) see the sea from that room.

Nous voyions nos amis le weekend. - We used to see our friends at the weekend.

Vous voyiez toutes les expositions quand vous viviez en France. - You used to see all the exhibitions when you lived in France.

Ils/Elles voyaient deux ou trois films par semaine. - They used to see two or three films a week.

Conditional Tense

The stem of the conditional tense is of course the same as that of the future tense. Here it is, used in sentences.

Je vous verrais samedi si je pouvais. - I would see you on Saturday if I could.

Tu verrais ce que je voulais dire.

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