faire conjugation

faire — to do, to make. Je fais.

Present (présent)

The everyday present: what you do, what's true, what's going on.

Fais, fais and fait all sound the same. Watch two things: faisons is said fuh-ZOHN, and vous faites is one of only three vous forms in French that don't end in -ez (with vous êtes and vous dites). Vous faisez is a classic beginner mistake.

Past (passé composé)

The everyday past, for things that happened: "I was", "I had". It's avoir or être plus the past participle.

Avoir plus fait. Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ce week-end? is "what did you do this weekend?"

Imperfect (imparfait)

The past for how things were or used to be: "I was tired", "we used to have a dog".

Built on fais-, and the ai is said uh here too. Il faisait froid is "it was cold".

Future, conditional and subjunctive

"Will" and "would", plus the subjunctive: the form French uses after il faut que, je veux que and other wishes and doubts.

The future and conditional are built on fer-: je le ferai demain (I'll do it tomorrow). The subjunctive has its own stem, fass-: il faut que je fasse les courses, I have to do the shopping.

Participles

The "-ing" form (étant, being) and the past participle that makes the passé composé (été, been).

Imperative (impératif)

Commands: telling someone to do something, or not to.

Fais attention! is "be careful!", and faites comme chez vous is "make yourself at home".

What faire does

Weather is faire, not être. Il fait chaud is "it's hot out", and for how you feel it's j'ai chaud. Je suis chaud means something else entirely. Why.

• Looking a word up once doesn't mean you'll remember it. The verb you look up today is gone by tomorrow. The one that keeps showing up in stuff you'd read anyway, right when you're about to forget it, is the one that sticks.
• No streaks, no guilt. Kin tracks one number: how many words you've got in reach today. It drops when you take a break and comes back when you do.

Questions