Learn to Conjugate the French Irregular Verb Lire (to Read)

Lire, "to read," is an irregular French -re verb. Some -er verbs, despite being irregular still follow certain patterns, such as prendre (to take) and battre (to beat) or verbs that end in -aindre, -eindre, and -oindre. Thanks to identifiable patterns, these verbs are a little easier to conjugate.

Unfortunately, lire is not in any of these groups. It's one of the very irregular -re verbs with such unusual conjugations that you just have to memorize it separately.

Other verbs with unique conjugations include absoudre (to absolve), boire (to drink), clore (to close), conclure (to conclude), conduire (to drive), confire (to give it), connaître (to know), coudre (to sew), croire (to believe), dire (to say), écrire (to write), faire (to make), inscrire (to inscribe), moudre (to grind), naître (to be born), plaire (to please), rire (to laugh), suivre (to follow), and vivre (to live). 

Try working on one verb a day until you've mastered them all. 

Similar Verbs

There are verbs similar to lire that have their own conjugations, such as élire (to elect), réélire (to reelect), and relire (to read again). They are similar, but not be identical in every case. Check out the conjugation of each before you use them.

Lire Usage Examples

While the conjugations of lire are irregular, the meaning is generally straightforward: "to read." It can be used intransitively (without a direct object), as in:

• Aimer lire: to like to read
• Elle apprend à lire toute seule.: She's learning to read all by herself.

Lire can also be used transitively (with a direct object), as this example from Collins French-English Dictionary shows: 

• Où est-ce que tu as lu ça? > Where did you read that?

Despite the difficulty in conjugating lire, Collins says this verb is one of the 1,000 most common words in its translation dictionary. This may be because the verb also has some mundane, but very common, uses, as in this sentence from Le Nouvel Observateur (The New Observer):

• Cliquez ci-contre colonne de droite pour lire les éditoriaux disponibles integralement en ligne. Click the right column here to read editorials available in full online.

Expressions Using Lire

There are a few idiomatic expressions using lire, including:

• Lire en diagonale: to skim through something
• Lire dans les pensées: to read someone's thoughts
• Lire la suite: read more (computer prompt)
• Lire la presse: to read the (printed) press

You may find it helpful to commit these expressions to memory. You'll likely hear them if you visit France or even if you are conversing with French speakers.

Present Indicative

Je	lis	Je lis tous les jours.	I read every day.
Tu	lis	Tu lis dans mes pensées.	You are reading my thoughts.
Il/Elle/On	lit	Il lit un livre.	He is reading a book.
Nous	lisons	Nous lisons le menu.	We are reading the menu.
Vous	lisez	Vous lisez le journal	You read the newspaper?
Ils/Elles	lisent	Elles lisent ensemble tous les soirs.	They read together every night.

Compound Past Indicative

The passé composé is a past tense that can be translated as the simple past or the present perfect. For the verb lire, it is formed with the auxiliary verb avoir and the past participle lu​.

Je	ai lu	J'ai lu au sujet de tous ces projets.	I read about all these projects.
Tu	as lu	Tu as lu le rapport de hier?	Did you read yesterday's report?
Il/Elle/On	a lu	Elle l'a lu page par page.	She read it page by page.
Nous	avons lu	Nous avons lu la prière de demandes de pardon.	We read the prayer for forgiveness.
Vous	avez lu	Vous avez lu son certificat médical?	Did you read his health certificate?
Ils/Elles	ont lu	Ils l'ont lu récemment dans le journal.	They read it in the paper recently.

Imperfect Indicative

The imperfect tense is another form of a past tense, but it is used to talk about ongoing or repeated actions in the past. L'imparfait of the verb lire can be translated to English as "was reading,” “would read," or "used to read," although it can sometimes also be translated as the simple "read," depending on the context.

Je	lisais	Je me souviens de la déception que je lisais dans son visage.	I remember the disappointment on her face.
Tu	lisais	Tu lisais beaucoup sur le logement social.	You used to​ read a lot about social housing.
Il/Elle/On	lisait	Elle lisait les cours de la bourse.	She used to​ read the stock market
Nous	lisions	Nous lisions la vie de Jésus ces jours-là.	In those days, we used to​ read the life of Jesus.
Vous	lisiez	Chaque soir, vous nous lisiez le Gros Livre Bleu.	You used to​ read to us the Big Blue Book every night.
Ils/Elles	lisaient	Elles lisaient des livres d'historie d'art.	They used to​ read art history books.

Simple Future Indicative

To talk about the future in English, in most cases we simply add the modal verb "will." In French, however, the future tense is formed by adding different endings to the infinitive. 

Je	lirai	Je ne le lirai pas en entier.	I won't​ read it in its entirety.
Tu	liras	Tu liras demain le rapport du juge.	You will​ read the judge's report tomorrow.
Il/Elle/On	lira	Il ne lira pas toute la motion.	He will not​ read the whole motion.
Nous	lirons	Nous ne le lirons pas.	We are not going to quote from it.
Vous	lirez	J'espere que vous lirez ce que j'ai écrit.	I hope you will​ read what I wrote.
Ils/Elles	liront	Elles ne se liront pas aisément.	They will​ not be easily identifiable.

Near Future Indicative

Another form of a future tense is the near future, the futur proche, which is the equivalent of the English "going to + verb." In French, the near future is formed with the present tense conjugation of the verb aller (to go) + the infinitive (lire).

Je	vais lire	Je vais lire encore une fois ce que tu as écrit.	I am going to​ read one more time what you wrote.
Tu	vas​ lire	Ce que tu vas lire est une orientation politique.	What you are about to​ read is a political orientation.
Il/Elle/On	va lire	Elle va lire le texte français.	She is going to​ read a French text.
Nous	allons lire	Nous allons lire la révision en anglais.	We are going to​ read the revision in English.
Vous	allez lire	Vous allez lire le poème don't j'ai parlé hier.	You are going to​ read the poem I talked about yesterday.
Ils/Elles	vont lire	Ils vont lire seulement la partie surlignée.	They are only going to​ read the underlined part.

Conditional

The conditional mood in French is equivalent to the English "would + verb." Notice that the endings it adds to the infinitive are very similar to those in the imperfect indicative.

Je	lirais	Je ne vous lirais pas les chiffres.	I won't read you the figures.
Tu	lirais	Tu lirais	You would read
Il/Elle/On	lirait	Si elle avait le temps, elle lirait des pages et des pages de ce roman.	If she had the time, she would read pages and pages of this novel.
Nous	lirions	Nous ne vous les lirions pas	We won't read them to you.
Vous	liriez	Si on vous donnait un nouveau logiciel à apprendre, liriez-vous d'abord le manuel?	If you were given a new computer program to learn, would you read the manual first?
Ils/Elles	liraient	Elles liraient avec beaucoup d'intérêt.	They would read with a lot of interest.

Present Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood conjugation of lire, which comes in after the expression que + person, looks very much like the present indicative and past imperfect.

Que je	lise	Souhaitez-vous que je lise la lettre?	Would you like me to read the letter?
Que tu	lises	Pour le savoir, il faut que tu lises le programme.	To determine that, you have to read about this program.
Qu'il/elle/on	lise	Il faudra qu'elle lise sur toutes ces choses.	She has to read about all those things.
Que nous	lisions	Il a proposé que nous lisions son livre.	He suggested that we read his book.
Que vous	lisiez	J'aimerais que vous lisiez ce texte.	I'd like you to read this text.
Qu'ils/elles	lisent	Je propose qu'ils lisent cette citation de Buddha.	I suggest you read this quote from Buddha.

Imperative

The imperative mood is used to express demands, requests, direct exclamations, or to give commands, both positive and negative. They have the same verb form, but the negative commands include ne...pas, ne...plus, or ne...jamais around the verb

Positive Commands

Tu	lis!	Lis cela!	Read this!
Nous	lisons!	Lisons ensemble!	Let's read together!
Vous	lisez!	Lisez-nous!	Read to us!

Negative Commands

Tu	Ne lis pas!	Ne lis pas en classe!	Don't read in class!
Nous	Ne lisons pas!	Ne lisons pas ce livre!	Let's not read this book!
Vous	Ne lisez pas!	Ne lisez pas ce report!	Don't read that report!

Present Participle/Gerund

One of the uses of the present participle is to form the gerund (usually preceded by the preposition en), which can be used to talk about simultaneous actions. Otherwise, present participle is also used as a verb, adjective, or a noun.

Présent Participle/Gerund of Lire: lisant

Example: Tu peux vérifier cela en lisant les étiquettes. 
You can verify this by reading the labels.