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📚 This is the overview. « rire » is taught level by level — pick your CEFR level below for a full lesson (explanation, pronunciation, exercises & games).
Five phrases with « rire » — guess before the reveal. Practise with the free games → Open this short as a page — transcript included →
Rire — to laugh — owns the language’s most minimalist table: je ris, tu ris, il rit, nous rions, vous riez, ils rient, and a past participle of exactly two letters — ri: « j’ai ri » (I laughed) may be the shortest complete French sentence with a compound tense. The only spelling flicker is the double i of the imparfait nous/vous — nous riions, vous riiez — where stem-i meets ending-i and French, for once, keeps both. Futur je rirai, subjonctif que je rie; sourire (to smile) copies every form — j’ai souri — making this a two-for-one chart of good moods.
The laughing lexicon is modern French’s export department: mdr (mort de rire — dying of laughter) rules texting as our SMS lesson details, « c’est à mourir de rire » is its full-dress version, and le fou rire — the mad laugh — names the uncontrollable giggle fit every language needs a word for. « Tu ris ? » (are you laughing?/serious?), « pour rire » (as a joke — « c’était pour rire ! »), and the proverb « rira bien qui rira le dernier » (he who laughs last…) complete the set. Grammar footnote: rire DE quelqu’un is laughing AT someone — the preposition carries the cruelty — while rire AVEC keeps it kind. Drill by confession: j’ai ri, je souris, on a bien ri — the verb conjugates best in good company.
« Ri » — two letters: j’ai ri, on a ri. Sourire matches with souri: elle a souri.
Stem rii- meets the imparfait -ions: ri + ions. Both i’s are kept and lightly pronounced — one of French’s rare double-i spellings.
An uncontrollable laughing fit: « on a eu un fou rire en classe ». Literally the mad laugh — impossible to stop, fatal in meetings.
passé composé (shortest participle!): j’ai ___ (2 letters)
ri
to smile = ___ (rire family)
sourire
just for fun / a joke = pour ___ (expression)
rire
je ___ (Rire — present)
ris
tu ___ (Rire — passé composé)
as ri
il ___ (Rire — imperfect)
riait
nous ___ (Rire — future)
rirons
vous ___ (Rire — conditional)
ririez
Go further: Master the present tense — the full beginner guide.
je ris, tu ris, il / elle rit, nous rions, vous riez, ils / elles rient. Full charts for every tense are above, each form with audio.
ri — the passé composé is « j’ai ri ». Rire uses avoir as its auxiliary verb.
« je rirai » — the future stem never changes across persons, only the endings do.
to laugh. It is one of the essential French verbs — drill the present first, then the passé composé; those two tenses carry most conversations.
Games built from this exact page — turn what you just read into play:
« rire » at every CEFR level — the tense, its forms and the mechanic that makes it stick. Practise it with the free games →