Faire Conjugation: How to Use One of French's Most Useful Verbs

If you're learning French, faire is a verb you simply can't avoid. It means to do or to make, but the French use it for everything from cooking and shopping to talking about the weather. The catch? It's irregular, so you can't just follow the usual rules. The good news: once you know its handful of patterns, you've unlocked one of the most useful verbs in the language. Here's how to conjugate faire across every tense you'll need — with examples you can start using today.

How to conjugate faire in the present tense

The present tense (le présent) is where to start, and it's also where faire surprises people — two of its forms are genuinely irregular and trip up almost every learner.

Watch out for vous faites (not "faisez") and ils font (not "faisent") — these two are the classic mistakes. Memorise them now and you'll save yourself years of small errors.

Faire in the past: passé composé and imparfait

French has two everyday past tenses, and you'll use faire constantly in both.

Passé composé (a completed action) uses the helper verb avoir plus the past participle fait:

Imparfait (an ongoing or habitual past action) uses the stem fais-:

Faire in the future and conditional

Both of these tenses share the same irregular stem: fer-. Learn it once, use it twice.

Futur simple (will do):

Conditionnel (would do): same fer- stem, with imparfait endings — je ferais, tu ferais, il ferait, nous ferions, vous feriez, ils feraient.

The subjunctive (le subjonctif)

You'll meet this after expressions like il faut que (it's necessary that). The stem becomes fass-:

Full set: que je fasse, que tu fasses, qu'il fasse, que nous fassions, que vous fassiez, qu'ils fassent.

Faire in real sentences

Conjugation tables only stick when you see the verb at work. Here's faire doing what it does best — everyday life:

Notice that last group: French uses faire for the weather (il fait beau, il fait froid) and for activities (faire du sport, faire la cuisine) where English would use to be or to go. That's the real key to sounding natural.

Common mistakes English speakers make

• "Vous faisez" ❌ → it's vous faites ✅. One of the few verbs that breaks the -ez pattern.

• "Ils faisent" ❌ → it's ils font ✅.

• Using être in the past: it's j'ai fait, never "je suis fait."

• Translating "to make a decision" word-for-word — French says prendre une décision (to take a decision), not faire. Faire is broad, but not infinite.

Quick practice

Fill in the right form of faire:

1. Demain, nous _____ une tarte. (futur)

2. Hier, j'_____ _____ mes devoirs. (passé composé)

3. Il faut que tu _____ attention. (subjonctif)

Answers: 1. ferons · 2. ai fait · 3. fasses

Frequently Asked Questions

What does faire mean in French? Faire most often means to do or to make, but it's used far more widely than either English verb — for weather (il fait chaud), activities (faire du vélo), and everyday chores (faire la vaisselle).

Is faire irregular? Yes. Faire is one of the most common irregular verbs in French. The forms to watch are vous faites, ils font, the future/conditional stem fer-, and the subjunctive stem fass-.

What is the past participle of faire? The past participle is fait, as in j'ai fait (I did/made). It's also used in the plus-que-parfait (j'avais fait) and future perfect (j'aurai fait).

How do you say "to do the shopping" in French? Faire les courses. For example: Je fais les courses le samedi — I do the shopping on Saturdays.

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