Lesson 11: Irregular -IR Verbs

Many irregular ‑IR verbs still fall into recognizable families. We'll start with a common pattern in which the final consonant of the stem disappears in the singular forms but returns in the plural.

Notice the contrast:

• je pars → nous partons
• je dors → nous dormons

Some ‑IR verbs, especially verbs ending in ‑frir, ‑vrir, and ‑llir, use the same present-tense endings as regular ‑ER verbs (‑e, ‑es, ‑e, ‑ons, ‑ez, ‑ent):

Courir and mourir have their own related patterns.

Courir keeps its r throughout:

Mourir changes its stem from ou → eu in every form except nous and vous:

Verbs in the ‑quérir family change their stem in the singular forms (é → ie) and ils/elles forms (é → iè):

A few common ‑IR verbs follow their own patterns rather than one of the families above:

• fuir (to flee): je fuis, nous fuyons
• haïr (to hate): je hais, nous haïssons
• bouillir (to boil): il bout, ils bouillent
• vêtir (to dress): je vêts, nous vêtons

More Verbs in These Families

The patterns from this lesson also apply to several related verbs: