faire (présent)

Irregular Verb Faire (To Do/make)

Level 1

faire (to do/make)
je fais
tu fais
il/elle/on fait
nous faisons
vous faites
ils/elles font

How It Works

The verb faire is essential for daily conversation. Unlike English, French uses the same verb for both 'to do' and 'to make'.

1. Conjugation & Pronunciation

  • The nous form faisons is unique: the 'ai' is pronounced like a schwa (/ə/), sounding like 'fe-zon'.
  • The vous form faites is one of the few primary verbs (along with dire and être) that ends in -tes instead of -ez.
  • The ils/elles form font is completely irregular.

2. Common Uses

  • Activities: Used with the partitive article for hobbies and sports (e.g., faire du sport).
  • Weather: Used in impersonal constructions like il fait beau.
  • Math: Used to express 'equals' in arithmetic (e.g., deux et deux font quatre).

3. Idiomatic Expressions
Many common phrases use faire where English uses different verbs:

  • Faire attention: To pay attention / be careful.
  • Faire la queue: To stand in line.
  • Faire les courses: To go grocery shopping.

4. The Causative Construction
You can use faire + infinitive to say you are having something done by someone else, such as faire réparer la voiture (to have the car repaired).

Examples (5)

  1. Je fais mes devoirs chaque soir.

    I do my homework every evening.

    Word by Word: I do my homeworks each evening.

    Here, 'faire' is used for a task or activity (doing homework).

  2. Est-ce que vous faites un gâteau ?

    Are you making a cake?

    Word by Word: Is it that you make a cake?

    In this context, 'faire' translates to 'to make' because it involves creating something.

  3. Nous faisons du vélo le dimanche.

    We go cycling on Sundays.

    Word by Word: We do some bike the Sunday.

    Note the pronunciation of 'faisons' (fe-zon) and the use of the partitive article for a hobby.

  4. Ils font beaucoup de bruit.

    They are making a lot of noise.

    Word by Word: They make much of noise.

    The irregular plural form 'font' is used here.

  5. Il fait froid aujourd'hui.

    It is cold today.

    Word by Word: It makes cold today.

    This is an impersonal expression used to describe the weather.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'faisez' for the 'vous' form.

    Vous faisez du sport ?
    Vous faites du sport ?

    Learners often try to make 'faire' regular by adding '-ez', but the only correct form is 'faites'.

  • Using 'être' for weather conditions.

    Il est chaud dehors.
    Il fait chaud dehors.

    In French, we use 'faire' (it makes) rather than 'être' (it is) to describe the weather.

  • Using 'faire' to mean 'to make someone feel [adjective]'.

    Ça me fait triste.
    Ça me rend triste.

    To say 'to make someone [adjective]', standard French uses 'rendre'. 'Faire' + adjective is limited to set phrases such as 'il fait chaud'.

How It Connects

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faire (présent)Level 1Irregular Verb Faire (To Do/make)

Learn This First

To learn the present tense of the irregular verb 'faire', you first need to be familiar with French subject pronouns and basic sentence structure. Understanding the distinction between 'tu' and 'vous' is also important because 'faire' has a unique conjugation for the 'vous' form.

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