Say What You See: How to Use the “Voir” Conjugation in French

The French verb “voir” isn’t as difficult to master as you might think, but “il faut le voir pour le croire” (you have to see it to believe it!) It’s an everyday verb that is used predominantly to talk about sight. That said, it can also be a useful verb to know in other contexts, such as to express understanding, to talk about past experiences and even to arrange meeting up with people. It’s very important to learn the “voir” conjugation not only so that you can use this verb effortlessly, but also to help you understand the many other verbs that end with “voir”. Once you’ve got the hang of this verb, the rest will be easier to grasp.

When to Use the “Voir” Conjugation

1. For sight

• Je vois une voiture là bas – I see a car over there

2. To show understanding

• Je vois ce que tu veux dire – I see what you’re saying (literally: I see what you want to say)

3. For meeting up with people

• Je vois ma tante toutes les deux semaines – I see my aunt every two weeks

4. For experiences

• J’ai vu deux guerres mondiales – I’ve lived through two world wars

The verb “voir” itself doesn’t have a whole lot of meanings, but it can be paired with various other verbs to create a new meaning, which we’ll take a look at below.

Voir Conjugation in the Present Tense (le présent)

Je vois	I see
Tu vois	You see
Il/elle voit	He/she/it sees
Nous voyons	We see
Vous voyez	You see (formal/plural)
Ils/elles voient	They see

• Est-ce que tu me vois ? – Can you see me?
• Nous voyons des manifestations toutes les semaines – We’re seeing protests every week
• Elles ne voient pas le danger – They don’t see the danger

Voir Conjugation in the Imperfect Tense (l’imparfait)

Je voyais	I used to see
Tu voyais	You used to see
Il/elle voyait	He/she/it used to see
Nous voyions	We used to see
Vous voyiez	You used to see (formal/plural)
Ils/elles voyaient	They used to see

The imperfect tense with “voir” is used to talk about past habits or regular occurrences in the past.

• Elle voyait sa grand-mère tous les jours – She used to see her grandmother every day
• Nous voyions le coucher du soleil à partir de notre balcon – We used to see the sunset from our balcony

Voir Conjugation in the Past Tense (le passé composé)

J’ai vu	I saw
Tu as vu	You saw
Il/elle a vu	He/she/it saw
Nous avons vu	We saw
Vous avez vu	You saw (formal/plural)
Ils/elles ont vu	They saw

The passé composé of “voir” is used for anything that has already happened and finished, and also things relevant to the present, similar to “have seen”. To use this tense, simply take the verb “avoir”, conjugate it according to the subject, and add the past participle of the verb, which in this case is “vu”.

• Elle a vu un oiseau multicolore – She saw a multicolored bird
• Je l’ai vu avec mes propres yeux – I saw it with my own eyes
• Nous avons vu pire – We’ve seen worse
• Vous avez tous vu les conséquences de vos actions- You have all seen the consequences of your actions
• Il a vu l’arrivé d’Internet – He has seen (lived through) the arrival of the Internet

Voir Conjugation in the Simple Future (le futur simple)

Je verrai	I will see
Tu verras	You will see
Il/elle verra	He/she/it will see
Nous verrons	We will see
Vous verrez	You will see (formal/plural)
Ils/elles verront	They will see

Just like in the English language, we can use the simple future of the “voir” conjugation as a sentence on its own. The meaning can be interpreted in several different ways; it could sound hopeful, promising or even threatening, depending on the tone and the context. The subject “on” meaning one is often used with this tense to say “we’ll see”.

• “Maman, je peux aller à la fête foraine ce week-end ?” – Mom, can we go to the funfair this weekend?
  “Je ne sais pas encore, on verra” – I don’t know yet, we’ll see
• Tout va bien se passer, tu verras – Everything will be alright, you’ll see
• Dis ça encore une fois et tu verras ce que je sais faire – Say that one more time and you’ll see what I can do (threatening)

Voir Conjugation in the Near Future (le futur proche)

Je vais voir	I’m going to see
Tu vas voir	You’re going to see
Il/elle va voir	He/she/it is going to see
Nous allons voir	We’re going to see
Vous allez voir	You’re going to see (formal/plural)
Ils/elles vont voir	They’re going to see

This tense is used with the verb “aller” to talk about things that you have planned to see or do.

• Je vais voir le spectacle à Barcelone – I’m going to see the show in Barcelona
• Vous allez voir vos amis pendant les vacances – You’re going to see your friends during the vacation
• Il ne va pas voir sa famille avant qu’il parte – He’s not going to see his family before he leaves

Voir in the Past Perfect (le plus-que-parfait)

J’avais vu	I had seen
Tu avais vu	You had seen
Il/elle avait vu	He/she/it had seen
Nous avions vu	We had seen
Vous aviez vu	You had seen (formal/plural)
Ils/elles avaient vu	They had seen

This tense is used to talk about a past action that happened before another moment in the past. Each sentence therefore requires another past tense, either le passé composé or l’imparfait, as well as the plus-que-parfait.

• Ma soeur m’a dit que tu l’avais vu – My sister said that you had seen her
• Vous vouliez me dire ce que vous aviez vu – You wanted to tell me what you had seen
• Je pensais qu’elle avait déjà vu ce film – I thought she had already seen this film

Voir Conjugation in the Present Conditional Tense

Je verrais	I would see
Tu verrais	You would see
Il/elle verrait	He/she/it would see
Nous verrions	We would see
Vous verriez	You would see (formal/plural)
Ils/elles verraient	They would see

• Elle est trop timide, je ne la verrais pas faire ça – She’s too shy, I can’t see her doing that (literally: I wouldn’t see her do that)
• Il verrait plutôt la table devant le canapé – He imagined the table in front of the sofa instead (literally: he would see the table in front of the sofa instead)
• Tu nous as promis que nous verrions le concert – You promised us we would see the concert

Voir in the Past Conditional

J’aurais vu	I would have seen
Tu aurais vu	You would have seen
Il/elle aurait vu	He/she/it would have seen
Nous aurions vu	We would have seen
Vous auriez vu	You would have seen (formal/plural)
Ils/elles auraient vu	They would have seen

• J’aurais vu le problème de suite si j’avais été la – I’d have seen the problem straight away if I had been there
• Elle aurait vu le message si elle avait lu ses mails – She’d have seen the message if she’d read her emails
• Si vous aviez fait plus attention, vous auriez vu le bus arriver – If you’d have been paying more attention, you’d have seen the bus coming

Voir in the Future Conditional

J’aurai vu	I will have seen
Tu auras vu	You will have seen
Il/elle aura vu	He/she/it will have seen
Nous aurons vu	We will have seen
Vous aurez vu	You will have seen (formal/plural)
Ils/elles auront vu	They will have seen

• J’aurai 30 ans quand j’aurai vu 4 matchs de coupe du monde en direct – When I will have seen 4 World Cup matches live, I’ll be 30 years old
• En 2030 les adultes n’auront jamais vu une monde sans téléphone portable – In 2030 adults won’t have known a world without cell phones

This future conditional tense is something that we don’t often use in English, as it can easily be replaced by the present perfect tense, without losing its meaning:

• Je partirai une fois que j’aurai vu que tout se passe bien – I’ll leave once I’ve seen that everything’s running smoothly

Voir Conjugation in the Imperative (l’imperatif)

If you want to tell someone what to do, whether you’re the boss or you’re just a little bossy, you need to use the imperative tense to give orders and make suggestions. The French imperative tense can only be used in the second person singular (tu), the first and second plural (nous/vous). However, subject pronouns are not used with the imperative.

So, for the verb voir, only the following imperative verbs can be used:

1. (tu) vois
2. (nous) voyons
3. (vous) voyez

• Vois avec ton père – See what your father says (literally: see with your father)
• Voyez si vous avez besoin d’autres choses – See if you need anything else
• Voyons ensembles – Let’s take a look together
• D’abord, voyons si ça marche – First, let’s see if it works

Admittedly, the imperative is more commonly used with other verbs, as we’re about to see…

Aller Voir

The French expression “aller voir” is exactly the same in meaning as its English counterpart: go and see (or as it’s often used in spoken English: “go see”). The first verb is conjugated in any tense while voir is not.

• Va voir ce que ce passe – Go and see what’s happening
• Je vais aller le voir demain – I’m going to go and see him tomorrow
• Allez voir mamie – Go and see Grandma
• Allons voir le cirque – Let’s go and see the circus

Faire Voir

This phrasal verb is used to say “show me”, just as we might say “let me see”.

• Fais voir tes devoirs – Let me see your homework
• Il va nous faire voir sa nouvelle voiture – He’s going to show us his new car
• Nous faisons voir le château aux invités – We show the castle to guests

Venir Voir

The verbs come and see when put together make a nice little phrase that is often used as an order, be it strict or casual.

• Coucou mon chou, viens voir maman ! – Hello sweetie, come and see mommy !
• Venez me voir dans mon bureau à 14h – Come and see me in my office at 2pm
• Ils sont venus te voir mais tu n’étais pas disponible – They came to see you, but you weren’t available

Voir Venir

We can also inverse the verbs “voir” and “venir” to change the meaning completely. Rather than “come and see”, it now means “to see coming”.

• Il est parti car il nous a vu venir – He left because he saw us coming
• Elles ont rangé leur chambre, elles ont dû me voir venir – They tidied their room, they must’ve seen me coming

Regarder vs. Voir

It can sometimes be tricky to know when to use the voir conjugation and when to use the verb regarder, but it’s actually way more simple than you think!

Voir = see

An involuntary action, something that is in your eyeline whether you were looking for it or not.

• Quand j’étais en Espagne, j’ai vu la mer – When I was in Spain, I saw the sea

Regarder = watch

A voluntary action, something you watched intentionally

• Je regarde la mer car ça m’apaise – I watch the sea because it soothes me

Se voir

This verbe pronominal or reflexive verb has the same meaning as the verb voir, but with an added reflexive pronoun as the object of the sentence, for example doing the action to yourself.

• Un touriste s’est vu voler son portefeuille – A tourist had his wallet stolen (Literally: A tourist saw his wallet stolen from himself)
• Je me voyais attaqué par des guêpes – I was attacked by wasps (Literally: I saw myself attacked by wasps)

This is a vital verb to understand because it’s extremely common, in particular to mean “see each other”. It is usually used in the third person with “on” instead of “nous” for a more informal tone.

• On se voit ce soir a 19h – We’re seeing each other tonight at 7
• Ils se voient régulièrement – They see each other regularly
• On va se voir avant ton anniversaire ? – Will we see each other before your birthday?
• Elles se voient tous les jours – They see each other every day

You’ll most likely come across the verb “voir” at the end of various other verbs, so once you’ve got the hang of it you’ll be well on your way to knowing others like devoir, pouvoir and many more!