Faire (to do) · All tenses

French uses 'il fait + adjective/noun' for most weather conditions: 'il fait beau' (it's nice), 'il fait chaud' (it's hot), 'il fait froid' (it's cold), 'il fait du soleil' (it's sunny), 'il fait du vent' (it's windy). The pattern is literally 'it makes hot/cold/sun/wind' — French treats weather as something being produced, the same way Spanish uses 'hace'.

Only three French verbs in the present have an irregular -tes ending instead of the regular -ez: être (vous êtes), faire (vous faites), dire (vous dites). All three preserve older Latin endings that resisted analogical regularization because of their extreme frequency. Learners often slip and say 'vous faisez' or 'vous disez' — recognised as a beginner mistake by every French native.

Use avoir + the irregular past participle 'fait': j'ai fait, tu as fait, il a fait, nous avons fait, vous avez fait, ils ont fait. The participle 'fait' looks like the il-form of the present but functions as a participle.

No — since faire takes avoir as auxiliary, the participle 'fait' is invariable in standard usage. The exception: when a direct object PRECEDES the verb, the participle agrees with it ('la tarte que j'ai faite' = the pie I made). This is the direct-object-agreement rule that applies to all avoir verbs.

'Faire faire quelque chose' (literally 'to make do something') is a causative construction meaning 'to have something done': 'je fais faire une robe' = I'm having a dress made. The first 'faire' is conjugated; the second stays infinitive. This 'faire + infinitive' construction is extremely common in French for delegating tasks: 'je fais réparer ma voiture' (I'm having my car repaired).

Faire is regular in the imparfait: je faisais, tu faisais, il/elle/on faisait, nous faisions, vous faisiez, ils/elles faisaient. Stem 'fais-' from the nous form. Pronounced /fəzɛ/ for je/tu/il — the 'ai' is silent, like in 'faisons'.

Use 'je faisais' for habitual past actions, descriptions, or background: 'chaque été, je faisais du vélo' (every summer, I used to bike). Use 'j'ai fait' for one-time completed actions: 'l'été dernier, j'ai fait du vélo' (last summer, I biked). The imparfait + passé composé together build a narrative scene: 'je faisais du vélo quand il a commencé à pleuvoir' (I was biking when it started to rain).

Past weather almost always uses the imparfait because it's a background description: 'il faisait beau' (the weather was nice), 'il faisait froid' (it was cold), 'il faisait nuit' (it was nighttime). The passé composé 'il a fait beau' would imply a completed weather event — rare and unusual unless contrasting with a change ('hier, il a fait beau toute la journée' — yesterday, it was nice the whole day, as a finite period).

The subjonctif of faire is: que je fasse, que tu fasses, qu'il fasse, que nous fassions, que vous fassiez, qu'ils fassent. The stem 'fass-' (double 's' to keep the 's' sharp) is irregular and used across all persons — unlike most subjonctifs, there's no stem split between singular and nous/vous.

Use it after triggers of necessity, will, doubt, or emotion: 'il faut que je fasse' (I need to do), 'je veux qu'il fasse' (I want him to do), 'avant que nous fassions' (before we do). 'Faire attention' (to pay attention) appears frequently with the subjonctif: 'il faut que tu fasses attention' (you need to pay attention) is one of the most common French sentences a teacher will say.

Spanish would write a single 's' here, but French requires double 's' between two vowels to preserve the /s/ sound. A single 's' between vowels is pronounced /z/ (compare 'maison' /mɛzɔ̃/ vs 'masse' /mas/). 'Fasse' with double s preserves the sharp /s/; 'fase' would be pronounced /faz/ — wrong. Same rule operates in laisser, passer, casser, embrasser, etc.

The futur of faire uses 'fer-': je ferai, tu feras, il/elle/on fera, nous ferons, vous ferez, ils/elles feront. Standard future endings, but the stem contracts dramatically from the infinitive 'faire' to 'fer-' — same pattern as Spanish 'haré'.

Faire and dire are the two French verbs whose futur stems contract by more than one letter: fer-, dir-. Both were extremely high-frequency in Latin and Old French, and everyday repetition wore the stems down faster than the more modest contractions (tendr-, pondr-, vendr-). Compare Spanish hacer → haré (same dramatic contraction) and decir → diré.

Both express future actions. 'Je ferai' (futur simple) feels slightly more formal, more committed, or further in time. 'Je vais faire' (futur proche) is more conversational for near-term plans. The futur simple also expresses conjecture: 'il fera beau demain' (it'll be nice tomorrow — prediction) — slightly more confident than 'il va faire beau'.

The conditionnel of faire is: je ferais, tu ferais, il/elle/on ferait, nous ferions, vous feriez, ils/elles feraient. Same irregular stem 'fer-' as the futur, plus imperfect endings.

'Tu ferais mieux de + infinitive' literally means 'you would do better to + verb' and is the standard French way to say 'you'd better...': 'tu ferais mieux d'étudier' (you'd better study), 'vous feriez mieux de partir' (you'd better leave). It's a soft warning or strong suggestion. The conditional 'ferais' (rather than the indicative 'fais') softens the directive — telling someone what they'd better do without commanding them.

'Que ferais-tu?' = 'What would you do?' — used to ask someone about a hypothetical action. The inversion 'ferais-tu' (instead of 'tu ferais') makes it a question. Variants: 'qu'est-ce que tu ferais?' (more informal), 'que feriez-vous?' (polite/plural). Always paired with a hypothetical context: 'que ferais-tu à ma place?' (what would you do in my place?), 'que ferais-tu avec un million d'euros?' (what would you do with a million euros?).