Conjugating the French Verb Voir

Voir means to see and it is one of the most common verbs  in the French language. Students will want to take quite a bit of time studying this very useful verb because it has a variety of uses and meanings. Its also important to understand how to conjugate it into the present, past, and future tenses. This lesson is a good introduction to  voir  and will give you a nice foundation for using it in conversation and within common expressions. The Many Meanings of  Voir In a general sense,  voir  means to see as in, Je vois Lise le samedi.  (I see Lise on Saturdays.) or Je vois deux chiens. (I see two dogs.). In the right context, however, it can take on a slightly different meaning. Voir  can mean to see figuratively, in the sense of to witness or to experience: Je nai jamais vu un tel  enthousiasme.  -  Ive never seen such enthusiasm.Il a vu la mort de tous ses amis.  -  He has seen (lived through) the deaths of all of his friends. Voir  is also commonly used to mean to see in the sense of to understand: Ah, je vois!  -  Oh, I see! (I get it, I understand)Je ne vois pas la diffà ©rence.  -  I dont see (understand) the difference.Je ne vois pas comment vous avez dà ©cidà ©.  -  I dont see (understand) how you decided. Simple Conjugations of Voir Voir,  like many other common French verbs, has  irregular conjugations. They are so irregular that you simply have to memorize the full conjugation because it doesnt fall into a predictable pattern. However, you can study it along with similar verbs like  dormir,  mentir,  and  partir, which add similar endings to the verb stem. Were going to keep the verb conjugations simple in this lesson and concentrate on its most basic forms. The indicative mood is the most common of them all and should be your priority when studying  voir. Using this first table, you can match the subject pronoun to the correct tense. For instance, I see is  je vois  and we will see is  nous verrons. Practicing these in short sentences will help you learn them much faster. Present Future Imperfect je vois verrai voyais tu vois verras voyais il voit verra voyait nous voyons verrons voyions vous voyez verrez voyiez ils voient verront voyaient The  present participle  of  voir  is  voyant. To form the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  of  voir, you will need the  auxiliary verb  avoir  and the  past participle  vu. With these two elements, you can construct this common past tense to match the subject pronoun. For example, we saw is  nous avons vu. While the indicative forms of  voir  should be your priority, its a good idea to be able to recognize a few other verb moods. Both the subjunctive and conditional are used when the action of seeing is questionable or uncertain, for instance. Its also possible that youll come across the passà © simple or imperfect subjunctive, but those are mostly found in formal writing. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je voie verrais vis visse tu voies verrais vis visses il voie verrait vit vt nous voyions verrions vmes vissions vous voyiez verriez vtes vissiez ils voient verraient virent vissent The imperative verb mood is used for commands and demands that are short and to the point. When using it, skip the subject pronoun. For example,  Voyons!  simply means Come on! Lets see! Imperative (tu) vois (nous) voyons (vous) voyez Voir  With Other Verbs You can pair  voir  with other verbs to alter its meaning and fit the context of the sentence. Here are a few common examples of that in action. Voir  can be followed by an infinitive to mean to see literally or figuratively: As-tu vu sauter la petite fille? -  Did you see the little girl jump?Jai vu grandir ses enfants. -  I saw (witnessed) his children growing up. Aller voir  means to go (and) see: Tu devrais aller voir un film. -  You should go see a movie.Va voir si elle est prà ªte. -  Go and see if shes ready. Faire voir  means to show: Fais-moi voir tes devoirs. -  Let me see / Show me your homework.Fais voir! -  Let me see! Show me! Voir venir  is informal and figurative, meaning to see something/someone coming: Je te vois venir. -  I see where youre going (with this), what youre leading up to.Mais cest trop cher! On ta vu venir! -  But thats too expensive! They saw you coming! Using Se Voir: Pronominal and Passive Se voir  can be a pronominal or  passive voice construction. In the  pronominal  construction,  se voir  can be used as a reflexive verb, meaning to see oneself. For instance, Te vois-tu dans la glace  ? (Do you see yourself in the mirror?) or Je me vois habiter en Suisse. (I see / can imagine myself living in Switzerland.). In a figurative sense, the pronominal reflexive of se voir  can also mean  to find oneself or to be in the position of. An example of this may be, Je me vois obligà © de partir. (I find myself obliged to leave.) When speaking about someone else, you might use it in a sentence such as, Il sest vu contraint den parler. (He found himself forced to talk about it.). Another type of pronominal verb is reciprocal. When used with  se voir, it takes on the meaning of to see each other. For example, you might say, Nous nous voyons tous les jours. (We see each other every day.) or Quand se sont-ils vus? (When did they see each other?). When se voir  is used in the  passive voice.  it can also have multiple meanings: to happen; to show, be visible. This has many uses, including the common phrases of, Ça se voit (That happens) and Ça ne se voit pas tous les jours. (You dont see that / That doesnt happen every day)se voir  plus an infinitive means to be ___ed. For example, Il sest vu dire de se taire. (He was told to be quiet) and Je me suis vu interdire de rà ©pondre. (I was forbidden to respond.). Expressions With Voir Voir  is used in a number of very common French expressions. One of the best-known is  dà ©jà   vu, which means already seen. You can also use it for short phrases such as  on verra  (well see) and  voir  venir  (wait and see). Though it means to see,  voir  can be used to convey a positive or negative relationship between things as well: avoir quelque chose à   voir avec/dans  - to have something to do withne pas avoir grand-chose à   voir avec/dans  - to not have much to do withne rien avoir à   voir avec/dans   -  to have nothing to do with Since  voir  is such a useful verb, there are  several idiomatic expressions that use it. In the most obvious sense, its used to indicate sight, whether figurative or literal: voir  la vie en rose - to see life through rose-colored glassesVoir, cest croire. -  Seeing is believing.Vous voyez dici le tableau! -  Just picture it!ny voir goutte -  to not see a thingCest quelque chose qui ne se voit pas tous les jours.  -  Thats something you dont see every day.Il  faut  voir.  -  Well (have to wait and) see.   Il faut le voir pour le croire. -  It has to be seen to be believed.Jen ai vu dautres! -  Ive seen  worse!ne voir aucun mal à   quelque chose -  to not see any harm in somethingJe voudrais ty voir!  - Id like to see you try! Id like to see how you would handle it! You can also find  voir  in unlikely expressions. These are ones in which the English translation barely alludes to the act of seeing: Cest mal  vu. -  People dont like that.ny voir que du feu -  to be completely fooleden faire voir de dures à   quelquun -  to give someone a hard timefaire voir 36 chandelles à   quelquun -  to beat the living daylights out of someoneCest tout  vu. -  Its a foregone conclusion.Quand on parle du loup (on en voit la queue).  -  Speak of the devil (and he appears).Essaie un peu pour voir! -  Just you try it!