Conjugating the Irregular French Verb Devenir (to Become)

Conjugating the Irregular French Verb 'Devenir' (to Become) Devenir, to become, is an  irregular French -ir verb, meaning the infinitive ends in -ir.  The chart below lists the conjugations of this verb; it does not include compound conjugations, which consist of some form of the auxiliary verb  Ãƒ ªtre  and the past participle devenu. Devenir Is Highly Irregular There are two groups within the irregular French  -ir  verbs, one around verbs like partir and sortir and a second around verbs like offrir and ouvrir,  that show some conjugation patterns. Devenir and similar verbs like venir  (to come), tenir  (to hold, to keep) and others do not fall into these groups, much less any conjugation group. Their conjugations are so unusual and unwieldy that you simply have to memorize them in order to use these verbs correctly Verbs Ending in -venir and -tenir Since devenir is conjugated the same way as similar verbs like venir and tenir, it follows that all French verbs ending in the suffixes  -venir  and  -tenir  are also conjugated this way. It makes life a little easier if you know the conjugation of at least one of these verbs; then you can apply the same endings to all like verbs. Here are some verbs ending in -venir and -tenir, all of which are conjugated in the same very irregular way as devenir, venir, and tenir. Abstenir to abstainConvenir  Ã‚  Ã‚  to suitTenir   to hold, keep  Devenir   to become  Revenir   to come [home], return  Dà ©tenir   to hold, detain  Obtenir   to obtain, get  Soutenir   to support, uphold  Parvenir  Ã‚   to achieve  Entretenir   to look after, maintain  Maintenir   to maintain  Intervenir   to intervene  Ã‚  Retenir   to retain  Prà ©venir  Ã‚  to warn, preventAppartenir   to belong to  Contenir   to contain  Survenir   crop up, happen, occur  Provenir   to come from  Advenir   to happen  Ã‚  Ã‚  Subvenir  Ã‚   to provide for  Contrevenir   to contravene  Circonvenir   to circumvent   Devenir: Uses and Expressions The following expressions show French students how to use  devenir in various phrases. Tu es devenue une femme. Youre a woman now.Devenir rà ©alità © to become a realityDevenir vieux to get or grow oldEt moi, quest-ce que je vais devenir?   Whats to become of me?Je ne sais pas ce que je deviendrais sans toi.   I dont know what Id do without you.Que devenez-vous?   How are you getting on? / Hows it going?Et lui, quest-ce quil devient? Whats he up to these days? (vous faire) devenir dingue  (familier),   (vous faire) devenir fou, (vous faire) devenir chà ¨vre  (familier)   enough to drive you mad /  enough  to make you scream Conjugating Devenir The table provides the simple conjugations of  devenir  in its various tenses and moods. Present Future Imperfect Present participle je deviens deviendrai devenais devenant tu deviens deviendras devenais il devient deviendra devenait nous devenons deviendrons devenions vous devenez deviendrez deveniez ils deviennent deviendront devenaient Passà © composà © Auxiliary verb à ªtre Past participle devenu Subjunctive Conditional Passà © simple Imperfect subjunctive je devienne deviendrais devins devinsse tu deviennes deviendrais devins devinsses il devienne deviendrait devint devà ®nt nous devenions deviendrions devà ®nmes devinssions vous deveniez deviendriez devà ®ntes devinssiez ils deviennent deviendraient devinrent devinssent Imperative tu deviens nous devenons vous devenez