« trouver » is how you say you found something — and, very soon, what you think.
« trouver » is a textbook regular -ER verb: take off the -er, add the endings, and nothing surprising ever happens. Use it first in its literal sense — you look for something, and then you find it: « je trouve mes clés ».
Keep it apart from chercher, which is the looking. Chercher is the process, trouver is the result. « Je cherche mes clés » means you are still searching; « je trouve mes clés » means the search is over.
💡 Focus at this level: Basics — finding things
1. Pair it with chercher. Say both in one breath: « je cherche… je trouve ! » The contrast fixes both verbs at once.
2. Watch the object. Trouver takes a direct object with no preposition — « je trouve le livre », never « je trouve à ».
3. Learn « je ne trouve pas ». Not finding something is far more common in real life than finding it.
Play the free French games → · Back to the full « trouver » chart →