Le Présent: Sortir, Partir, Dormir

Sortir, partir, dormir — and their cousins sentir, mentir, servir — form one of the most coherent sub-families of irregular -ir verbs in French. They all follow the same structural template (drop a consonant in the singular, restore it in the plural), they all belong to the 3e groupe, and together they cover a remarkable range of everyday meanings: leaving, going out, sleeping, sensing, lying, serving. Knowing the pattern unlocks all six at once.

But they are not all interchangeable. They split on auxiliary choice in compound tenses (partir, sortir take être; dormir, sentir, mentir, servir take avoir), they split on transitivity (some can take direct objects, some cannot, and sortir/partir even switch auxiliary when used transitively), and they participate in a delicate four-way distinction with quitter and s'en aller for the English verb leave. This page covers the conjugation pattern, the auxiliary rules, the transitivity exceptions, and the partir/sortir/quitter/s'en aller decision tree.

The shared conjugation pattern

All six verbs follow the same rule. Take the infinitive's stem (sort-ir, part-ir, dorm-ir, sent-ir, ment-ir, serv-ir), then:

• In the singular (je, tu, il): drop the last consonant of the stem before adding the endings -s, -s, -t.
• In the plural (nous, vous, ils): keep the full stem and add the endings -ons, -ez, -ent.

The "lost" consonant is what marks singular from plural — and what makes these verbs distinctive among -ir verbs. (Compare the regular 2e groupe like finir, which adds -iss- in the plural: finissons.)

In every column, the singular forms drop the final consonant of the infinitive stem (partir → par-, sortir → sor-, dormir → dor-, sentir → sen-, mentir → men-, servir → ser-). The plural restores it.

Pronunciation — the audible singular/plural distinction

The dropped consonant is silent in the singular and pronounced in the plural — giving you a clear acoustic distinction between the two number categories. This is one of the rare places in French where the singular and plural sound clearly different.

The full family list

Including derivatives, here are the 3e-groupe -ir verbs that follow this pattern:

A note on what is not in this family: courir (to run) and mourir (to die), although they end in -ir, follow a different pattern (no consonant drop in the singular). They belong to a separate sub-family. Ouvrir and offrir end in -ir but conjugate like -er verbs (j'ouvre, tu ouvres). The partir family is specifically the -tir / -mir / -vir group with the consonant-drop rule.

The auxiliary split — être vs avoir

The single most important grammatical fact about this family: they do not share an auxiliary.

• Take être in compound tenses (motion / change of location): partir, repartir, sortir (when intransitive), ressortir (when intransitive).
• Take avoir (transitive activity, no motion of the subject): dormir, sentir, mentir, servir, ressentir, consentir, démentir, plus the transitive uses of sortir/partir (see below).
• Reflexive forms always take être (because all reflexives do): s'endormir, se sentir, se servir.

The transitive switch — sortir / partir / rentrer with avoir

Here is one of the most counter-intuitive features of French verb syntax. Sortir and partir are normally intransitive (je sors — "I go out") and take être. But when you use them transitively — when they take a direct object — they switch meanings and switch auxiliaries to avoir.

The same pattern applies to monter (go up / take up), descendre (go down / take down), rentrer (go home / put away), retourner (return / turn over), and passer (pass by / spend [time]) — all of which switch from être to avoir when they take a direct object.

This is genuinely a transitive/intransitive split with semantic consequences: je suis sorti(e) means "I went out" (motion of the subject); j'ai sorti la voiture means "I took the car out" (motion caused by the subject, applied to an object). The verb stays the same; the construction changes the meaning.

For full coverage, see Auxiliary Choice in Compound Tenses.

Use 1: Sortir — going out / taking out

Sortir covers two related ideas: physically exiting a place, and going out socially.

The third use — sortir for new releases (books, films, songs, products) — is high-frequency and worth memorizing.

Use 2: Partir — leaving for somewhere

Partir is "to leave" in the sense of departing for a destination. It typically takes a preposition: partir à (a city), partir en (a country, vacation), partir pour (a destination):

The fixed expression partir de + place means "to leave from / start from":

Use 3: Dormir — sleeping

Dormir is the basic verb for sleeping. It is intransitive (no direct object) and takes avoir in compound tenses:

The reflexive s'endormir means "to fall asleep" — a different action (the transition from awake to asleep) that takes être in compound tenses:

The distinction matters: je dors describes the state of being asleep, while je m'endors describes the moment of falling asleep. English uses "sleep" and "fall asleep" — French uses dormir and s'endormir.

Use 4: Sentir — smelling, feeling, sensing

Sentir covers a wide semantic range that English splits among smell, feel, and sense. Three uses:

Smell (transitive, avoir):

Feel a physical sensation (transitive, avoir):

Feel a state (reflexive se sentir + adjective, être in compound):

The reflexive se sentir + adjective is the standard way to describe how you feel emotionally or physically — and a place where English speakers often default to être (je suis fatigué) when se sentir is more natural for moment-to-moment states.

The leaving family — partir, sortir, quitter, s'en aller

English has one main verb for departure (leave) plus go out and be off. French splits the territory four ways:

The decision tree:

• Are you leaving a person, a job, a relationship, or a specific place by name? → quitter (transitive — takes the thing you leave as direct object): Je quitte mon mari. Je quitte mon travail. Je quitte Paris demain.
• Are you departing for a destination (somewhere else)? → partir: Je pars en vacances.
• Are you exiting a building or coming out of a place? → sortir: Je sors de la maison.
• Are you informally announcing your departure? → s'en aller: Bon, je m'en vais, à demain !

A common error: using partir with a direct object (partir Paris). Partir is intransitive — it requires a preposition. Quitter is the transitive option (quitter Paris). Or use partir de Paris if you mean "leave from Paris."

For the full treatment, see Choosing among partir, quitter, sortir, s'en aller.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Using the full stem in singular.

The singular forms drop the consonant — je pars, not je parts. (The -s ending is the personal ending, not part of the stem.)

Mistake 2: Wrong auxiliary.

Mistake 3: Missing the auxiliary switch with transitive sortir/partir.

Mistake 4: Using partir transitively for "leave."

Mistake 5: Confusing dormir with s'endormir.

Mistake 6: Using être with se sentir + adjective in present.

(Je suis fatigué is also correct — but it's être + adjective directly, without senti.)

Key takeaways

The partir family is one of the most rewarding patterns to master in French — six common verbs at once, with a clean acoustic distinction between singular and plural, and high frequency in everyday speech.

Three points to internalize:

1. The conjugation pattern: drop the consonant in singular, restore it in plural. Je pars / nous partons. Je dors / nous dormons. Je sers / nous servons. The dropped consonant is silent in singular and pronounced in plural — one of the rare acoustic distinctions French gives you.
2. Auxiliary choice splits the family. Partir, sortir (and their derivatives) take être when intransitive — they're maison-d'être motion verbs. Dormir, sentir, mentir, servir take avoir — they're transitive activity verbs. Sortir/partir switch to avoir when used transitively (j'ai sorti la voiture). All reflexive uses (s'endormir, se sentir, se servir) take être.
3. Four verbs for "leave." Partir (depart for somewhere), sortir (exit a place), quitter (leave a person, job, or named place — transitive), s'en aller (informal "be off"). The English speaker's habit of mapping all four to partir produces consistent errors. Drill the decision tree.

Once this family is solid, you've handled six verbs at once — and the auxiliary patterns set you up for the Passé Composé with être and reflexive verbs.