Now, if we all conformed and individualism was forcefully discouraged, we'd end up in a society not unlike that depicted by George Orwell in his celebrated literary tour de force, '1984.' The French, not shy of the occasional revolt (if history books are anything to go by) and more to the point, their verbs, are, alas, no exception.

However, there's no need to fret - yet - as all is not lost. There are thankfully some regularities, or patterns, within the irregularities. So, by learning one subset of irregular verbs in a family, you'll intuitively be able to conjugate each verb within that subset. It's important to note is that while some verbs - such as être, faire, avoir and aller - are highly irregular, most verbs are only irregular in certain tenses.

Irregular Verbs | Les Verbes Irréguliers

To table below illustrates a number of examples of common 'er', 'ir' and 're' irregular verbs in their present tense forms. For a more thorough look, select the desired tab from the three above.