No matter the verb, whether regular, irregular, or stem-changing, the future / conditional stem always ends in -r.
Radicaux irréguliers au futur et au conditionnel
All regular French verbs and many irregular ones use their infinitives as future and conditional stems. But of course there are always exceptions – here are the few dozen verbs with irregular stems.
Stem-changing verbs
Stem-changing verbs have the same stem change in their future and conditional stems:
| Similar verbs | ||
| appeler | appeller- | épeler, rappeler, renouveler |
| appuyer | appuier- | ennuyer, essuyer |
| employer | emploier- | nettoyer, noyer, tutoyer, etc. |
| essayer* | essaier- | balayer, effrayer, payer |
| gérer* | gèrer– | célébrer, espérer, préférer, etc. |
| jeter | jetter- | feuilleter, hoqueter, projeter, rejeter |
| lever | lèver- | acheter, achever, mener, etc. |
*The future and conditional stem change is optional for these two types of stem-changing verbs.
Irregular verbs
About 20 French verbs have irregular future and conditional stems:
| Similar verbs | ||
| acquérir | acquerr- | conquérir, s’enquérir |
| aller | ir- | |
| avoir | aur- | |
| courir | courr- | concourir, discourir, parcourir, etc. |
| devoir | devr- | |
| envoyer | enverr- | renvoyer |
| être | ser- | |
| faire | fer- | |
| falloir | faudr- | |
| pleuvoir | pleuvr- | |
| pouvoir | pourr- | |
| savoir | saur- | |
| valoir | vaudr- | |
| venir | viendr- | devenir, tenir, obtenir, etc. |
| voir | verr- | revoir |
| vouloir | voudr- |