CARROTTA
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⏱️ Compendium
Grammar
FR
Français — Recent past: venir de
The construction venir de + infinitive expresses an action that has just been completed: Je viens de manger means "I have just eaten."
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How it works
✓ Rule
Conjugate venir in the present tense, add de, then the infinitive: Je viens de finir ("I have just finished"), Nous venons d'arriver ("we have just arrived"). Before a vowel, de becomes d'.
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Forms
| French form | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Je viens de partir | I have just left |
| Tu viens de finir | you have just finished |
| Elle vient d'arriver | she has just arrived |
| Nous venons de manger | we have just eaten |
| Ils viennent de sortir | they have just gone out |
| Je venais de partir | I had just left |
| Il venait de rentrer | he had just come home |
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Good to know
⚠ Note
Don't confuse the two tenses: Je viens de partir uses the present of venir and means "I have just left" (recent past), while Je venais de partir uses the imparfait and means "I had just left" — used inside a past narrative. Also keep de fixed: it is always venir de + infinitive, never venir à or a bare infinitive.