Le Présent: Verbes en -ir (2e groupe, -iss-)

The 2^e groupe — regular -ir verbs — is the small, well-behaved middle child of the French verb system. There are around 300 members, all of them following the same template, all of them recognizable by a single defining feature: the -iss- infix that surfaces in the plural of the present, throughout the imperfect, and in the present participle. If you know how to conjugate finir, you know how to conjugate every regular -ir verb in French.

This page lays out the full paradigm with phonetic detail, walks through the three-versus-three split between the silent singular forms and the audibly distinct plural, surveys the high-frequency members of the class (especially the productive subgroup of color and change-of-state verbs), and shows how to tell a 2^e-groupe -ir verb from a 3^e-groupe -ir verb on the page.

The endings

For any regular 2^e-groupe -ir verb, drop -ir from the infinitive to get the stem, then add the six endings. The -iss- surfaces only in the three plural forms.

Finir → fin- + endings → je finis, tu finis, il finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent.

Full paradigm: finir (to finish)

The three-three split

Look closely at the pronunciation column. The three singular forms — je finis, tu finis, il finit — are pronounced identically: /fini/. The endings -is, -is, -it are all silent on the final consonant (the -s and -t); only the vowel -i is heard.

The three plural forms, in contrast, are all audibly distinct from each other and from the singular:

• nous finissons /finisɔ̃/ — adds the -iss- infix and a nasal -ons.
• vous finissez /finise/ — adds the -iss- infix and -ez /e/.
• ils finissent /finis/ — adds the -iss- infix; the final -ent stays silent, but the -iss- itself is pronounced.

So the structure is 3 silent + 3 audible, with the -iss- the unmistakable marker that you have moved into plural territory. The same homophony problem we saw with -er verbs is here too — three forms collapsed onto one sound — and the same solution applies: French requires a subject pronoun in front of every finite verb so the listener can recover the person.

Where -iss- comes from, and where it lives

The -iss- is not arbitrary. It is the descendant of a Latin inchoative suffix (-isc-) that originally marked the beginning of an action — the same suffix that gave Italian its -isco class (finire / finisco / finiamo). In modern French, the inchoative meaning has worn away, but the morpheme survives as the visible mark of the regular -ir class.

The -iss- appears in three places in the French verb system:

1. The plural of the present (nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent).
2. The entire imperfect (je finissais, tu finissais, il finissait, nous finissions, vous finissiez, ils finissaient).
3. The present participle and gerund (finissant, en finissant).

It does not appear in the simple future or the conditional, where the stem returns to finir- (je finirai, je finirais). Nor in the simple past passé simple (je finis, il finit, nous finîmes), which uses the bare stem.

For learners, the practical takeaway is that once you have the present, the imperfect comes for free: the stem you build with -iss- in nous finissons is the same stem that runs throughout the imperfect.

High-frequency 2^e-groupe verbs

Here are the members of the class you are most likely to need. They all conjugate exactly like finir.

The color-and-change subgroup: the productive corner

A striking pattern emerges if you sort 2^e-groupe verbs by meaning. A large subset describes a gradual process or a change of state, and a remarkable number derive transparently from adjectives by adding -ir:

This is the corner of the class that still feels semi-productive: a French speaker who needs a verb meaning "to turn [color]" or "to gradually become [adjective]" can often coin one in -ir and be understood, even if the form is not formally listed. Bleuir (to turn blue) appears in dictionaries; roser (the alternative for "turn pink") does not, but rosir would be intelligible. For verbs outside this color/change-of-state semantic field, however, the class is essentially closed — new vocabulary goes to the 1^er groupe (googler, scroller, liker).

Verbs that take prepositions

A handful of 2^e-groupe verbs take a fixed preposition before their object. Watch out especially for obéir à (and désobéir à), which is intransitive in French and requires à, while English "obey" is transitive.

Réussir takes à + infinitive ("succeed at doing something") and à + noun ("succeed at something"). Réfléchir (to think, reflect) takes à. Choisir de + infinitive ("choose to do something").

How to spot a 2^e-groupe verb on the page

There is no fully reliable spelling rule, but the practical heuristic for English speakers is this:

1. Memorize the small 3^e-groupe -ir set first. Partir, sortir, dormir, sentir, mentir, servir, courir, mourir, ouvrir, offrir, couvrir, souffrir, cueillir, venir, tenir — about fifteen verbs and their compounds.
2. Default to 2^e groupe for everything else. If you encounter an unfamiliar -ir verb that is not in the list above, your default assumption should be that it conjugates like finir. The vast majority of the time, you will be right.
3. Listen for -iss-. If a French speaker says nous finissons or vous choisissez or ils réussissent, you are hearing the 2^e groupe. If they say nous partons or vous sortez or ils dorment, you are hearing the 3^e groupe.

For the full overview of how the three groups relate, see The Three Conjugation Groups.

Negation, questions, and elision

The 2^e-groupe verbs work exactly like any other verb for negation, questions, and elision:

Note the elision of je before obéir, accomplir, agir — any 2^e-groupe verb starting with a vowel: j'obéis, j'accomplis, j'agis. And the standard liaison after nous, vous, ils, elles before vowel-initial verbs: nous obéissons /nu‿zɔbeisɔ̃/.

Sample dialogue

Common mistakes

Mistake 1: Forgetting the -iss- in the plural.

Mistake 2: Adding -iss- to a 3^e-groupe -ir verb.

Mistake 3: Treating obéir as transitive.

Mistake 4: Pronouncing the silent endings in the singular.

Mistake 5: Confusing the present and the imperfect.

Mistake 6: Using a 1^er-groupe ending on a 2^e-groupe verb.

Key takeaways

The regular 2^e-groupe paradigm has six endings: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent. Add them to the stem (the infinitive minus -ir) and you have the conjugation of any regular -ir verb in the present.

Three points to internalize:

1. The three singular forms are homophones: je finis, tu finis, il finit all sound /fini/. Subject pronouns are mandatory because pronunciation cannot tell them apart.
2. The plural is where -iss- lives: finissons, finissez, finissent. That infix is the audible signature of the class and the easiest way to tell a 2^e-groupe verb from a 3^e-groupe -ir verb in speech.
3. Many 2^e-groupe verbs derive from adjectives: grand → grandir, vieux → vieillir, rouge → rougir, blanc → blanchir. The class is the productive corner of French for color and change-of-state verbs, even if the doors closed on most other vocabulary centuries ago.

Once the 2^e groupe is solid, move on to the 3^e-groupe -ir verbs — the small irregular set that breaks the pattern.