Ouvrir — to open | French Verb Chart

🇬🇧 Ouvrir in plain English: the -ir verb in -er clothing

Ouvrir — to open — is filed under -ir and conjugates like neither -ir family: its present wears -er endings. J’ouvre, tu ouvres, il ouvre, nous ouvrons, vous ouvrez, ils ouvrent — parler’s endings on an -ir infinitive, the little disguise that catches every learner once. The imparfait (j’ouvrais), futur (j’ouvrirai) and subjonctif (que j’ouvre) hold no surprises; the past participle does: ouvert — j’ai ouvert — with the -ert shape it shares across its whole family: offrir → offert (offered), découvrir → découvert (discovered), souffrir → souffert (suffered), couvrir → couvert (the word on every French table setting: le couvert).

The family is the lesson: four everyday verbs — open, offer, discover, suffer — one conjugation, one participle shape, and between them most of a dramatic evening. Daily-life anchors: « le magasin ouvre à 9h » (shops open — ouvrir standing intransitive), « on t’a offert quoi ? » (what did you get? — offrir owns gifts in French: one offers rather than gives them), « j’ai découvert un super resto » (the food-culture verb of happy accidents). Sign-reading bonus: ouvert / fermé on every door in France — the participle as infrastructure. Drill the four participles in one sentence of gossip — on a ouvert, offert, découvert, souffert — and the -ert family files itself.