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 être 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 abstain
• Convenir à > to suit
• Tenir > to hold, keep 
• Devenir > to become 
• Revenir > to come [home], return 
• Détenir > to hold, detain 
• Obtenir > to obtain, get 
• Soutenir > to support, uphold 
• Parvenir à > to achieve 
• Entretenir > to look after, maintain 
• Maintenir > to maintain 
• Intervenir > to intervene  
• Retenir > to retain 
• Prévenir > to warn, prevent
• Appartenir > to belong to 
• Contenir > to contain 
• Survenir > crop up, happen, occur 
• Provenir > to come from 
• Advenir > to happen   
• Subvenir à > 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. > You're a woman now.
• Devenir réalité > to become a reality
• Devenir vieux > to get or grow old
• Et moi, qu'est-ce que je vais devenir? > What's to become of me?
• Je ne sais pas ce que je deviendrais sans toi. > I don't know what I'd do without you.
• Que devenez-vous? > How are you getting on? / How's it going?
• Et lui, qu'est-ce qu'il devient? > What's he up to these days?
• À (vous faire) devenir dingue (familier), à (vous faire) devenir fou, à (vous faire) devenir chèvre (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

Passé composé
Auxiliary verb	être
Past participle	devenu

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé simple	Imperfect subjunctive
je	devienne	deviendrais	devins	devinsse
tu	deviennes	deviendrais	devins	devinsses
il	devienne	deviendrait	devint	devînt
nous	devenions	deviendrions	devînmes	devinssions
vous	deveniez	deviendriez	devîntes	devinssiez
ils	deviennent	deviendraient	devinrent	devinssent

	Imperative
tu	deviens
nous	devenons
vous	devenez