Grammaire 1: stating origins (le verbe venir)
On étudie !
The verb venir
The verb venir, meaning ‘to come’ is an irregular verb. As is usually the case for irregular verbs, the nous and vous forms resemble the infinitive while the other forms have an irregular stem (ven versus vien). Below are the present tense forms. As you listen to the audio recording, notice all singular forms of venir are pronounced alike and the final consonants are all silent.
Conjugaison du verbe venir (to come)
| Singulier | Pluriel |
|---|---|
| je viens | nous venons |
| tu viens | vous venez |
| il, elle, on vient | ils, elles viennent |
(a) Venir (to come) can simply mean to come to a place, at a given time.
Tu viens à la fête? (You are coming to the party?)
Il vient souvent à l’université. (He comes often to the university.)
Venez à huit heures! (Come at eight o’clock!)
(b) Venir is used with the preposition de to indicate national or regional origin. (être can also be used in this way): venir + de (to come from). In front of a vowel or mute h, de becomes d’ (l’élision)
D’où viens-tu? (Where do you come from?)
Je viens de Montréal (du Canada). (I come from Montréal/Canada)
Il vient de Bathinda (d‘Inde). (He comes from Bathinda/India.)
(c) In some case, de is replaced with du or des when speaking of countries, province or state. Ensure you know the gender of your country of origin (see list in the Vocabulaire section).
- Use du when the name of the country is masculine singular:
- Elle vient du Punjab, du Mexique. (Le Mexique, le Punjab).
- Use des if the name of the country is plural:
- Tu viens des États-Unis ou des Philippines? (Les États-Unis, les Philippines.)
- Use d’ when the name of the country begins with a vowel/mute h.
- Je viens d’Iran.
You can find a list of countries (along with its corresponding gender) is in the vocabulary section. Ensure you can state your own origin and that of a few family members/friends.
(d) Another way to convey origins is to use the verb être (to be) along with the nationality. Nationalities are adjectives, so they must agree with the noun they modify:
Il est mexicain (m.) et il est d’origine mexicaine (f.).
C’est un étudiant mexicain (m.) et il est de nationalité mexicaine (f.).
The word origine is feminine in French, so adjectives describing it must also be feminine, even if the person in question is male. For example, we could say the following about the same man:
Il est d’origine mexicaine. [mexicaine modifies the word origine]
Il est mexicain. [mexicain modifies the subject pronoun Il]
Watch this video to practice learning how to ask someone where they are from: D’où viens-tu ?
