Vivre — to live | French Verb Chart

🇬🇧 Vivre in plain English: living, and the vécu that proves it

Vivre — to live, to be alive, to experience — conjugates short in the singular and honest in the plural: je vis, tu vis, il vit, nous vivons, vous vivez, ils vivent. The past participle is the table’s crown jewel: vécu — j’ai vécu — a word French also uses as a noun (le vécu: lived experience). Imparfait je vivais, futur je vivrai, subjonctif que je vive — and there stands the most famous subjunctive in the language: Vive la France ! — literally “may France live”, the subjunctive of wishes fossilised into a national exclamation. Reading trap worth one glance: the passé simple of VOIR is also « je vis » (I saw) — in novels, context tells you whether someone lived or looked.

The choosing rule: vivre vs habiter. Habiter is purely residential — j’habite à Lyon (address). Vivre covers residence AND existence: je vis à Lyon, je vis seul, ils vivent bien (they live well). If it’s about the address, either works; if it’s about the LIFE, only vivre. The family: survivre (survive — j’ai survécu) and revivre (relive) copy every form. Phrases with pulse: « on ne vit qu’une fois » (you only live once — French said it first), « vivre de » (live off: il vit de sa musique), « facile à vivre » (easy-going — literally easy to live with). Drill: describe your living in three layers — where (je vis à…), how (je vis bien), how long (j’ai vécu deux ans à…) — and vécu joins your own vocabulary of experience.