Courir is "to run," and it is one of the most distinctive irregular verbs in French because it has the rare double-r in the futur simple and conditionnel: je courrai, je courrais. The doubled r is not a typo — it is required, and missing it is a marked error. Only a tiny set of verbs do this: courir, mourir, acquérir, and a couple of others.
The verb is a 3e-groupe irregular -ir verb. Despite being a motion verb, courir takes avoir in compound tenses — it is not in the maison d'être. The reasoning: courir describes the manner of movement, not a change of place. (Aller and partir, by contrast, are about going somewhere — they take être.) This is one of the cleanest tests for whether a motion verb belongs to the maison d'être.
This page covers every paradigm, the dense family of compounds (parcourir, recourir, secourir, accourir, encourir, concourir, discourir) — each with its own register and meaning — and the idioms that stretch courir far beyond physical running, from courir un risque to le bruit court que.
The conjugation pattern
The present is irregular: stem cour- throughout, but with the partir-family endings (je cours, tu cours, il court, nous courons, vous courez, ils courent). The double-r appears specifically in the futur and conditionnel, formed on the futur stem courr-. Everywhere else, the stem is the regular cour-.
Présent de l'indicatif
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | cours | /kuʁ/ |
| tu | cours | /kuʁ/ |
| il / elle / on | court | /kuʁ/ |
| nous | courons | /ku.ʁɔ̃/ |
| vous | courez | /ku.ʁe/ |
| ils / elles | courent | /kuʁ/ |
Pronunciation note: the singular and the 3rd-person plural are all pronounced /kuʁ/ — the -ent of courent is silent, like all 3rd-person plural -ent endings. Only nous courons and vous courez are audibly different.
Je cours tous les matins avant le boulot.
I run every morning before work.
Il court plus vite que moi, c'est sûr.
He runs faster than me, no question.
Les enfants courent partout dans le jardin.
The kids are running all over the garden.
Imparfait
Built on the nous stem cour- plus regular endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | courais |
| tu | courais |
| il / elle / on | courait |
| nous | courions |
| vous | couriez |
| ils / elles | couraient |
Single r throughout the imparfait. The double-r is reserved for futur and conditionnel.
Quand j'avais vingt ans, je courais le marathon chaque année.
When I was twenty, I used to run the marathon every year.
Il courait pour attraper le bus quand il a glissé.
He was running to catch the bus when he slipped.
Passé simple (literary)
The passé simple uses the -us pattern (courus), not -is.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | courus |
| tu | courus |
| il / elle / on | courut |
| nous | courûmes |
| vous | courûtes |
| ils / elles | coururent |
Note the circumflex on courûmes and courûtes — required in the -us pattern.
Il courut après le voleur sans réfléchir.
He ran after the thief without thinking. (literary)
Futur simple — the double-r
This is the headline irregularity. The futur stem is courr- with two r's, plus the regular endings.
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | courrai | /ku.ʁe/ |
| tu | courras | /ku.ʁa/ |
| il / elle / on | courra | /ku.ʁa/ |
| nous | courrons | /ku.ʁɔ̃/ |
| vous | courrez | /ku.ʁe/ |
| ils / elles | courront | /ku.ʁɔ̃/ |
The two r's are written but most speakers pronounce a single, slightly tense /ʁ/. In careful or formal speech, you may hear a perceptibly longer rhotic, but it is never produced as two distinct trills. Spelling alone is what's at stake — and the double-r is non-negotiable.
Je courrai le semi-marathon dimanche prochain.
I'll run the half-marathon next Sunday.
On courra plus vite avec les nouvelles chaussures.
We'll run faster with the new shoes.
Conditionnel présent
Same double-r stem courr-, with the imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | courrais |
| tu | courrais |
| il / elle / on | courrait |
| nous | courrions |
| vous | courriez |
| ils / elles | courraient |
Je courrais plus si j'avais le temps.
I'd run more if I had time.
On courrait moins de risques en attendant la fin de l'orage.
We'd run fewer risks by waiting for the storm to pass.
Subjonctif présent
Stem cour- (regular, single r). Note that nous and vous keep the -ions / -iez identical to imparfait.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | coure |
| (que) tu | coures |
| (qu')il / elle / on | coure |
| (que) nous | courions |
| (que) vous | couriez |
| (qu')ils / elles | courent |
Il faut que tu coures plus pour rester en forme.
You need to run more to stay in shape.
Il vaut mieux qu'on coure plus tôt avant la chaleur.
It's better to run earlier before it gets hot.
Impératif
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | cours |
| (nous) | courons |
| (vous) | courez |
Cours, le bus va partir !
Run, the bus is about to leave!
Courez vite, le magasin ferme dans cinq minutes.
Run quick, the store closes in five minutes.
Participles and gérondif
- Participe passé: couru (agrees only with a preceding direct object — rare for courir)
- Participe présent: courant
- Gérondif: en courant
Il est arrivé en courant, complètement essoufflé.
He arrived running, totally out of breath.
J'ai vu Marie courant vers la gare.
I saw Marie running toward the station.
The participe présent courant has also become an everyday adjective meaning "common, everyday, current": un mot courant (a common word), l'eau courante (running water), au courant (in the know — je suis au courant).
Compound tenses (with avoir)
Courir takes avoir — a fact worth dwelling on. Many learners assume that all motion verbs take être. They do not. Only the closed maison d'être list takes être: aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, retourner, rentrer, revenir, devenir, naître, mourir, passer. Courir is not on that list. Marcher (walk), nager (swim), voler (fly), sauter (jump) are not on that list either. They all take avoir.
The intuition: the maison d'être verbs encode change of location (or change of state, for naître / mourir / devenir / rester). Courir, marcher, nager describe manner of motion without any necessary change of location — you can run in place. So they default to avoir.
Passé composé
avoir (présent) + couru
J'ai couru cinq kilomètres ce matin.
I ran five kilometers this morning.
Tu as couru après le bus ? T'aurais pu prendre le suivant.
You ran after the bus? You could've taken the next one.
Plus-que-parfait
avoir (imparfait) + couru
Avant l'accident, j'avais couru tous les marathons de la région.
Before the accident, I had run every marathon in the region.
Futur antérieur
avoir (futur) + couru
Quand tu arriveras, j'aurai déjà couru dix kilomètres.
By the time you arrive, I'll have already run ten kilometers.
Conditionnel passé
avoir (conditionnel) + couru
Sans cette blessure, j'aurais couru le championnat.
Without that injury, I would have run in the championship.
Major uses
1. Run (literal physical movement)
Elle court le 100 mètres en moins de douze secondes.
She runs the 100m in under twelve seconds.
Il faut courir vite pour rattraper le retard.
We need to run fast to make up the lost time.
2. Courir un risque / un danger — to run a risk
A high-frequency idiomatic transitive use.
Tu cours un sérieux risque en signant ce contrat sans avocat.
You're running a serious risk signing that contract without a lawyer.
On ne court aucun danger ici, rassure-toi.
We're in no danger here, don't worry.
3. Le bruit court / la rumeur court — the rumor goes
A standard idiom for "word is going around."
Le bruit court qu'il va démissionner avant la fin du mois.
Word is he's going to resign before the end of the month.
Une rumeur court à son sujet, mais je n'y crois pas.
There's a rumor going around about him, but I don't believe it.
4. Courir + sport / event — to compete in
Il a couru le Tour de France trois fois.
He competed in the Tour de France three times.
Elle court le marathon de Paris dimanche.
She's running the Paris Marathon on Sunday.
5. Courir les filles / les garçons — to chase
Slightly informal, sometimes pejorative.
À vingt ans, il courait les filles, c'était de son âge.
At twenty, he was a player, that was his age.
6. Courir partout / partout courir — to be all over the place
J'ai couru partout pour trouver ce livre, sans succès.
I went all over looking for that book, no luck.
Désolé pour le retard, j'ai couru toute la matinée.
Sorry I'm late, I've been running around all morning.
The compound family
Courir anchors a productive family of prefixed verbs. Each conjugates exactly like courir (same double-r in futur/conditionnel), and each occupies a distinct semantic niche.
Parcourir — to cover, traverse, browse through
The most useful compound. To cover a distance, traverse a region, or skim through a text.
On a parcouru deux mille kilomètres en une semaine.
We covered two thousand kilometers in one week.
J'ai parcouru le rapport rapidement avant la réunion.
I skimmed the report quickly before the meeting.
Recourir à — to resort to, have recourse to (formal)
L'entreprise a dû recourir à un emprunt bancaire.
The company had to resort to a bank loan.
On recourt à la violence quand le dialogue échoue.
People resort to violence when dialogue fails.
Secourir — to rescue, help, come to the aid of
Les pompiers ont secouru trois personnes coincées dans l'ascenseur.
The firefighters rescued three people stuck in the elevator.
Accourir — to come running, hurry over
Takes être (motion to a place).
Tout le quartier est accouru au son de l'explosion.
The whole neighborhood came running at the sound of the explosion.
Encourir — to incur, expose oneself to (formal / legal)
Vous encourez une amende de mille euros pour cette infraction.
You face a fine of one thousand euros for this offense. (formal)
Concourir — to compete, contribute to
Tout concourt à son succès : le talent, le travail, la chance.
Everything contributes to her success: talent, work, luck.
Discourir — to discourse at length (often pejorative)
Il discourt pendant des heures sans rien dire.
He goes on for hours without saying anything. (pejorative)
High-frequency idioms
- courir un risque — to run a risk
- courir le monde — to travel the world
- par les temps qui courent — these days, in times like these
- ça court les rues — it's a dime a dozen (literally: it runs the streets)
- courir après quelqu'un — to chase someone (literally or figuratively, sometimes for affection)
- tu peux toujours courir — fat chance (informal: you can keep running for it)
- laisser courir — to let it go, drop it
- au courant — in the know
- courir à sa perte — to be heading for ruin
- courir le risque que
- subjunctive — to take the risk that
Par les temps qui courent, mieux vaut économiser.
In times like these, it's better to save.
Des candidats comme ça, ça court les rues.
Candidates like that are a dime a dozen.
Tu veux qu'il te rembourse ? Tu peux toujours courir.
You want him to pay you back? Fat chance. (informal)
Laisse courir, ça ne vaut pas la peine de discuter.
Let it go, it's not worth arguing about.
Comparison with English
Three friction points:
The double-r futur/conditionnel has no parallel. English has no orthographic alternation analogous to je cours / je courrai. Memorize courrai, courras, courra as a unit. Same for mourir.
English "to run" can mean to manage (a business), but French courir cannot. Diriger or gérer is "to run a company." Courir une entreprise is wrong.
"To run errands" is faire des courses, not courir des courses. Despite the shared root, French uses faire here. This is a frequent transfer error.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Forgetting the double-r in the futur or conditionnel.
❌ Je courai demain matin.
Wrong — *courir* requires double-r in the futur.
✅ Je courrai demain matin.
I'll run tomorrow morning.
Mistake 2: Using être in compound tenses.
❌ Je suis couru cinq kilomètres.
Wrong — *courir* takes *avoir*; it is not in the *maison d'être*.
✅ J'ai couru cinq kilomètres.
I ran five kilometers.
Mistake 3: Using courir for "run errands."
❌ Je dois courir des courses cet après-midi.
Wrong — French uses *faire des courses*, not *courir*.
✅ Je dois faire des courses cet après-midi.
I have to run errands this afternoon.
Mistake 4: Using courir for "run a business."
❌ Elle court une boulangerie depuis dix ans.
Wrong — to manage a business is *diriger* or *gérer*, not *courir*.
✅ Elle dirige une boulangerie depuis dix ans.
She's been running a bakery for ten years.
Mistake 5: Single r in the participe présent or imparfait.
❌ Je courrais autrefois cinq fois par semaine.
Wrong tense — single r is for the imparfait (*je courais*); the double-r form is conditionnel.
✅ Je courais autrefois cinq fois par semaine.
I used to run five times a week.
The trap here is the symmetric one: writing the double-r when the imparfait is meant. Courais (single r) = used to run; courrais (double r) = would run. The orthography distinguishes them.
Key takeaways
Courir is the 3e-groupe -ir verb meaning to run. Present: cours, cours, court, courons, courez, courent. Imparfait: courais (single r). Futur and conditionnel use the double-r stem courr- (je courrai, je courrais) — the most distinctive orthographic feature of the verb.
It takes avoir in compound tenses (j'ai couru) — not être, despite being a motion verb. The reasoning: courir describes manner of motion, not change of location. Past participle couru.
The verb anchors a productive compound family: parcourir (cover/skim), recourir à (resort to), secourir (rescue), accourir (come running, with être), encourir (incur, formal), concourir (compete, contribute), discourir (discourse). Major idioms: courir un risque, le bruit court, par les temps qui courent, ça court les rues, au courant.
Master the double-r and the avoir auxiliary, and you have courir.
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