Conjugate the Irregular French Verb 'Servir'

Servir ("to serve," "to be useful") is an irregular French -ir verb. Below are the simple conjugations of the verb servir. They do not include the compound tenses, which consist of a form of the auxiliary verb with the past participle.

Within irregular -ir verb conjugations, there are some patterns. Two groups exhibit similar characteristics and conjugation patterns. Then there is a final, large category of extremely irregular -ir verbs that follow no pattern.

Servir Is Irregular

Servir lies in the first group of irregular -ir verbs that display a pattern. It includes dormir, mentir, partir, sentir, servir, sortir, and all of their derivatives, such as repartir. All of these verbs share this characteristic: They all drop the last letter of the stem in the singular conjugations. For instance, the first-person singular of servir is je sers (no v) and the first-person plural is nous servons (retains the v from the stem). The more you recognize these patterns, the easier it will be to remember conjugations.

Conjugation

Generally speaking, most French verbs ending in -mir, -tir, or -vir are conjugated this way. Such verbs include:

• dormir: to sleep
• endormir: to put / send to sleep
• redormir: to sleep some more
• rendormir: to put back to sleep
• départir: to accord
• partir: to leave
• repartir: to restart, set off again
• consentir: to consent
• pressentir: to have a premonition
• ressentir: to feel, sense
• sentir: to feel, to smell
• mentir: to lie
• se repentir: to repent
• sortir: to go out
• servir: to serve, to be useful

Expressions and Usage

• Servir quelqu'un de / en quelque chose.: To serve somebody with something / To serve something to somebody.
• C'est difficile de se faire servir ici.: It's difficult to get served here.
• Sers le café.: Pour the coffee.
• Puis-je te servir du poulet?: Can I serve you some chicken?
• Le dîner est servi!: Dinner is ready / Served!
• Sers-moi à boire.: Give / pour me a drink.
• Ils nous servent toujours les mêmes histoires aux informations.: They always dish out the same old stories on the news.
• Servir la patrie / une cause: To serve country or a cause
• On n'est jamais si bien servi que par soi-même. (proverb): If you want something done right, do it yourself.
• Servir les intérêts d'une dette: To service a debt
• servir la messe: To say / hold mass
• Il a servi, ce manteau!: I got a lot of use out of this coat!
• Ça n'a jamais servi.: It's never been used.
• À toi de servir. (tennis): Your serve.
• servir à: To be used for
• Ça ne sert à rien de lui en parler.: It's useless to talk to him / It's no use talking to him about it.
• Crier ne sert à rien.: There's no point in shouting.
• servir de: to act as, to be
• Je lui ai servi d'interprète.: I acted as his interpreter.
• se servir [pronominal reflexive]: to help oneself
• Servez-vous de / en légumes.: Help yourself to vegetables.
• Je me suis servi un verre de lait.: I poured myself a glass of milk.
• se servir [pronominal passive]: to be served
• Le vin rouge se sert chambré.: Red wine should be served at room temperature.
• se servir de quelque chose: to use something
• Il ne peut plus se servir de son bras droit.: He can't use his right arm anymore.
• C'est une arme dont on ne se sert plus.: It's a weapon that is no longer used / in use.
• se servir de quelque chose comme: to use something as
• se servir de quelqu'un: to make use of / to use somebody

Conjugations Tables