Venir (to Come) in French

In Brief

Venir means “to come” and is irregular: je viens, tu viens, il/elle vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils/elles viennent. Use venir de + place to say where someone comes from, and use venir à/chez + destination to talk about coming somewhere or to someone’s home or workplace.

Overview

Venir is one of the most useful French verbs. You need it to say that someone is coming, ask where a person comes from, invite someone along, or describe an arrival. It is introduced at A1 because it appears constantly in everyday questions and plans: Tu viens ? can simply mean “Are you coming?”

An infinitive is the basic, unconjugated form of a verb—the form listed in a dictionary. Here, that form is venir. Unlike regular -er verbs, venir does not keep one stable stem and take the usual endings. Its present-tense forms must therefore be learned as a pattern.

English speakers should pay particular attention to two differences. First, French normally uses the simple present for both “come” and “am coming”: Je viens can express either one, depending on context. Second, French uses de after venir for origin, where English uses “from”: Elle vient de Paris means “She comes from Paris.”

How It Works

Present-tense conjugation

The subject is the person or thing that performs the action. The verb form changes to match that subject.

Subject	Present form	Approximate English meaning
je	viens	I come / I am coming
tu	viens	you come / you are coming (informal singular)
il / elle / on	vient	he/she/one comes; we come informally
nous	venons	we come / we are coming
vous	venez	you come / you are coming (plural or formal)
ils / elles	viennent	they come / they are coming

There are three useful sound-and-spelling groups:

• je viens and tu viens have the same pronunciation and end in -s.
• il/elle/on vient sounds the same as viens but ends in -t.
• ils/elles viennent has a pronounced consonant sound before the ending; its final -ent is silent.
• nous venons and vous venez use the stem ven- and have clearly different endings.

The written contrast between viens, vient, and viennent matters even when some forms sound alike. Learning each form together with its pronoun helps prevent spelling errors.

Talking about movement toward a place

Use venir + destination phrase when the movement is toward the speaker, the listener, or the place being discussed.

• venir à + place/event: Vous venez à la réunion ? — “Are you coming to the meeting?”
• venir en/au/aux + region or country: Elle vient en France cet été. — “She is coming to France this summer.”
• venir chez + person/professional: Ils viennent chez nous. — “They are coming to our place.”
• venir avec + person: Tu viens avec moi ? — “Are you coming with me?”
• venir pour + purpose: Je viens pour le rendez-vous. — “I’m here for the appointment.”

French chooses between aller (“to go”) and venir (“to come”) according to viewpoint, much as English does. If you are moving away from the relevant location, aller is usually the natural choice: Je vais au bureau (“I’m going to the office”). If the movement is toward the listener or expected meeting point, use venir: Je viens chez toi (“I’m coming to your place”).

Saying where someone comes from

For origin, use venir de + place. The preposition (a short linking word such as “from”) changes form before some nouns.

Place expression	Pattern	Example	English
city	de + city	Je viens de Montréal.	I come from Montreal.
feminine country	de + country	Elle vient de Belgique.	She comes from Belgium.
vowel-starting country	d’ + country	Il vient d’Italie.	He comes from Italy.
masculine country	du + country	Nous venons du Canada.	We come from Canada.
plural country/region	des + country/region	Ils viennent des États-Unis.	They come from the United States.

Here du is the contraction (combined form) of de + le, and des is de + les. Do not add an article before most city names: de Londres, not du Londres.

To ask about origin, use D’où… ? (“From where…?”):

• D’où viens-tu ? — “Where do you come from?”
• Vous venez d’où ? — “Where are you from?” This word order is very common in conversation.
• D’où est-ce que vous venez ? — a neutral, explicit question pattern.

Negatives and questions

Put ne … pas around the conjugated verb in standard written French:

• Je ne viens pas ce soir. — “I’m not coming tonight.”
• Ils ne viennent pas avec nous. — “They aren’t coming with us.”

In everyday speech, ne is often omitted: Je viens pas. As a beginner, use the full form in careful writing and recognize the shorter spoken form.

For a yes/no question, French offers several patterns:

• Rising intonation: Tu viens demain ?
• est-ce que: Est-ce que tu viens demain ?
• Inversion (verb and pronoun reversed): Viens-tu demain ?

All mean “Are you coming tomorrow?” The first is especially natural in casual conversation; inversion is more formal or careful.

Related verbs with the same family pattern

Several common verbs follow a pattern similar to venir. Prefixes do not remove the irregularity.

Subject	venir	revenir (to come back)	devenir (to become)	tenir (to hold/keep)
je	viens	reviens	deviens	tiens
tu	viens	reviens	deviens	tiens
il / elle / on	vient	revient	devient	tient
nous	venons	revenons	devenons	tenons
vous	venez	revenez	devenez	tenez
ils / elles	viennent	reviennent	deviennent	tiennent

Revenir describes returning or coming back: Je reviens dans cinq minutes. Devenir means “to become” and often links a subject to a profession, role, or new state: Elle devient médecin. Tenir does not mean “to come,” but its present-tense changes are closely related and worth learning beside venir: Il tient la porte (“He is holding the door”).

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Je viens de Londres.	I come from London.	Origin: de + city
D’où viens-tu ?	Where do you come from?	Inversion with informal tu
Vous venez d’où ?	Where are you from?	Common conversational word order
Ils viennent à la fête.	They are coming to the party.	Movement toward an event
Tu viens avec nous ?	Are you coming with us?	Natural informal invitation
Nous venons chez vous à huit heures.	We’re coming to your place at eight.	chez vous means your home or premises
Ma sœur vient en train.	My sister is coming by train.	en train gives the means of transport
Je ne viens pas au bureau demain.	I’m not coming to the office tomorrow.	Full written negative
Est-ce que Paul vient ce soir ?	Is Paul coming tonight?	Yes/no question with est-ce que
Elle vient du Maroc et son mari vient d’Espagne.	She comes from Morocco, and her husband comes from Spain.	du with a masculine country; d’ before a vowel
Le serveur vient prendre notre commande.	The waiter is coming to take our order.	venir followed directly by an infinitive of purpose
Je reviens dans une heure.	I’ll be back in an hour.	Common use of revenir
Elle devient médecin.	She is becoming a doctor.	devenir + profession, with no article
Les jours deviennent plus longs.	The days are getting longer.	Change of state with devenir
Tiens bien le sac.	Hold the bag tightly.	Command form of related tenir

Common Mistakes

Treating venir like a regular -er verb

• Wrong: Je vene à la fête.
• Right: Je viens à la fête.
• Why: Venir is irregular. Its singular forms are viens, viens, vient, not forms built with regular -er endings.

Using à to express origin

• Wrong: Je viens à Paris when you mean “I come from Paris.”
• Right: Je viens de Paris.
• Why: De marks origin. Je viens à Paris refers to movement toward Paris: “I’m coming to Paris.”

Choosing the wrong form of de

• Wrong: Il vient de Canada.
• Right: Il vient du Canada.
• Why: A masculine country with its article requires du (de + le). Compare de France, d’Italie, and des États-Unis.

Translating “I am coming” word for word

• Wrong: Je suis venant.
• Right: Je viens.
• Why: French normally uses the present tense where English uses either “I come” or “I am coming.” The English be + -ing pattern does not transfer directly.

Misspelling third-person forms

• Wrong: Il viens or ils vienent.
• Right: Il vient; ils viennent.
• Why: The singular third person ends in -t, while the plural has doubled n: viennent.

Confusing venir and devenir

• Wrong: Elle vient médecin.
• Right: Elle devient médecin.
• Why: Venir describes coming; devenir describes becoming or changing into a new role or state.

Usage Notes

“Come” versus “go” is about viewpoint

French venir usually presents movement toward the speaker, listener, or agreed destination. Suppose a friend asks, Tu viens chez moi ce soir ? If you accept, Oui, je viens is natural because you are moving toward your friend. In another conversation, telling someone else about the same plan, you may say Je vais chez Léa ce soir because you are describing going to Léa’s home.

English sometimes uses “come” more freely when joining an activity. French speakers may instead choose aller depending on where the speaker and listener are. Rather than matching isolated words, picture the destination and ask whose location serves as the reference point.

Present tense for plans already arranged

The French present often expresses a near-future plan when a time phrase makes the timing clear:

• Je viens demain matin. — “I’m coming tomorrow morning.”
• Vous venez samedi ? — “Are you coming on Saturday?”

No special continuous form is needed. This is ordinary, natural French, not an informal shortcut.

Professions after devenir

A profession used as a role normally has no article after devenir: Elle devient avocate (“She is becoming a lawyer”), not elle devient une avocate in the basic neutral construction. An article can appear when the noun is modified or presented as a particular kind of person: Il devient un excellent professeur (“He becomes an excellent teacher”).

Everyday expressions

Tu viens ? is a compact invitation meaning “Are you coming?” or “Coming?” J’en viens can mean “I’m coming from there” when en replaces a phrase introduced by de. Meanwhile, D’où ça vient ? asks “Where does that come from?” and can refer to a sound, smell, problem, or idea—not only a person’s birthplace.

Beyond the Basics: Forms You Will Meet Later

You do not need to master all of these forms at A1, but venir remains important in later grammar.

The recent past: venir de + infinitive

When venir de is followed by another verb in the infinitive, it usually forms the recent past, a construction for something that has just happened:

• Je viens de manger. — “I’ve just eaten / I just ate.”
• Elle vient d’arriver. — “She has just arrived.”
• Nous venons de finir. — “We’ve just finished.”

Context separates this construction from origin. In Je viens de Lyon, Lyon is a place, so the sentence gives origin. In Je viens de partir, partir is an infinitive, so the sentence means “I have just left.” This later A2 use is important enough to study as its own pattern.

Compound past forms use être

In the passé composé (a common past tense built with a helper verb and a past participle), venir normally uses être:

• Elle est venue hier. — “She came yesterday.”
• Ils sont venus ensemble. — “They came together.”

The past participle is the verb form used in this compound tense: venu. With être, it agrees in written gender and number with the subject: venu, venue, venus, venues. Revenir and devenir also normally use être: elles sont revenues, il est devenu. Tenir, however, uses avoir: elle a tenu sa promesse (“she kept her promise”).

Other irregular stems

The future and conditional use viendr-: je viendrai (“I will come”), je viendrais (“I would come”). The present subjunctive—a verb form used after certain expressions of need, feeling, doubt, or purpose—includes que je vienne, que nous venions, and qu’ils viennent: Il faut que tu viennes (“You need to come”). These forms preserve the same broad alternation between vienn- and ven- seen in the present.

En venir à and venir à in abstract uses

At higher levels, venir also appears in expressions that no longer describe literal travel:

• Il en vient à la conclusion que… — “He comes to the conclusion that…”
• Comment en êtes-vous venu à choisir ce métier ? — “How did you come to choose this career?”
• Si elle venait à appeler… — “If she happened to call…” This is formal and presents an event as a possibility.

Recognize these as extensions of the idea of reaching a point or result; beginners do not need to produce them yet.

Practice Tips

1. Learn the present in three sound groups. Say je viens, tu viens, il vient together, then nous venons, vous venez, then ils viennent. Write the endings separately so pronunciation does not hide spelling differences.
2. Make a personal origin map. Write five true sentences about where you, your family, food, or objects come from. Include one city, one feminine country, one masculine country, and one plural place to practise de, d’, du, and des.
3. Rehearse short invitations. Pair questions and answers: Tu viens ce soir ? — Oui, je viens avec Marc / Non, je ne viens pas. Then replace venir with revenir, devenir, or tenir in a few sentences to reinforce the family pattern.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Regular -ER Verbs — provides the basic idea of matching a present-tense verb to its subject, against which venir is an irregular contrast.
• Next step: Recent Past — develops the construction venir de + infinitive for saying that something has just happened.