French Verb Focus: Voir (To See)

The French verb voir 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 (sing.fam.)
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 (pol.pl.)
Ils voient – they see, they are seeing (m)
Elles voient – they see, they are seeing (f)

(sing.fam.) – singular familiar
(pol.pl.) – polite plural

Perfect tense – passé composé

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

Je verrai mes amis dimanche. – I shall see my friends on Sunday.
Tu verras tout bientôt. – You will see everything soon.
Il verra le médecin demain. – He will see the doctor 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

On voyais la mer de cette chambre. – We could see the sea from that room.

Conditional tense

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

Subjunctive

Il faut que je voie le dentiste. – I must see the dentist.

Imperative

Vois s’il y a de la moutarde. – See if there is any mustard.
Voyez l’exposition. – See the exhibition.
Voyons si on pourra le faire. – Let’s see if we can do it.

With thanks to Elizabeth Allen