The verb faire (to do or to make) is an irregular verb, used both literally, meaning to do or to make, and in many expressions.

Conjugation of Faire

The Singular and Plural Forms of the Verb Faire
Person French English
1re personne singulier / 1st person singular Je fais I do/make
2e personne singulier / 2nd person singular Tu fais You do/make
3e personne singulier / 3rd Person singular Il/elle/on fait He/she does/makes
1re personne pluriel / 1st person plural Nous faisons We do/make
2e personne pluriel / 2nd person plural Vous faites You do/make (formal or plural)
3e personne pluriel / 3rd person plural Ils/elles font They make

Important Notes

  • The singular forms are all pronounced the same.
  • The vous form does not finish in “ez“.
Example of expressions: we use “faire” for certain weather expressions. When we talk about sports, we can also use faire:
Tiger Woods fait du golf. Rafael Nadal fait du tennis.

Faire as a “substitute” verb

You can use the verb faire to ask a question: Qu’est-ce que vous faites? (“What are you doing?”). Usually, you will reply not with the verb faire itself, but with the verb that describes the activity you are doing.

Q: Charles, que fais-tu? (Charles, what are you doing?)

R: Je mange une pomme. (I’m eating an apple.)

Select the play button to hear an example.

 

Exercise: Faire The English translation section (2nd part) needs to be removed.

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Exercise: Qu’est-ce que vous faites?

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This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA.

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Introduction to French (2nd ed.) Copyright © 2017 by Rita Palacios; Edited by Michelle Schwartz; and Michèle Phillips is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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