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Voir means “to see” in French. As with the verb ‘see’ in English, it can be used literally or figuratively, and is a part of a number of common phrases and expressions. Let’s see a little more about voir.
Voir conjugation
Voir is an irregular verb, which means you’ll have to memorize its conjugations.
A small consolation is that it’s conjugated with avoir in compound tenses, so you don’t have to agree the participle and the subject in a standard sentence.
Here’s how to conjugate voir in the most common French verb tenses:
| Present | Passé Composé | Imparfait |
| je vois | j’ai vu | je voyais |
| tu vois | tu as vu | tu voyais |
| il/elle/on voit | il/elle/on a vu | il/elle/on voyait |
| nous voyons | nous avons vu | nous voyions |
| vous voyez | vous avez vu | vous voyiez |
| ils/elles voient | ils/elles ont vu | ils/elles voyaient |
| Future | Conditional | Subjunctive |
| je verrai | je verrais | que je voie |
| tu verras | tu verrais | que tu voies |
| il/elle/on verra | il/elle/on verrait | qu’ il/elle/on voie |
| nous verrons | nous verrions | que nous voyions |
| vous verrez | vous verriez | que vous voyiez |
| ils/elles verront | ils/elles verraient | qu’ils/elles voient |
What does voir mean?
Voir means “to see”. This can be in a literal sense or in a figurative or more abstract one – for instance, in expressions like On verra (We’ll see) or Je vois (I see (I understand.).
As a general rule, you can use it the same way you’d use “see” in English.
The more French you read and listen to, the more likely you are to come upon the word voire. This derivative of voir essentially means “even”. For instance: C’est un des meilleurs, voire le meilleur chanteur du monde ! (He’s one of the best singers in the world – the best, even.). This phrase isn’t used very often, and tends to be somewhat formal.
On the other hand, the participle of voir, vu, is used a bit more frequently.
When it’s on its own, not part of a phrasal verb, vu can mean “Given that…” For instance, Vu les conditions météorologiques, le voyage a été annulé. (Given the meteorological conditions, the trip has been cancelled.)
In other cases, the word Vu on its own can simply mean “Seen”. This might be the curt confirmation that a boss, teacher, or other authority figure has seen someone’s work, or it could be a short way to report on what someone’s seen, from canoodling celebrities, to things people come upon in their town or city.
A variation of vu, la vue means ‘sight’, including when talking about the sense of sight.
It also means “view”. This can be used when talking about things like a point of view (un point de vue), as well as simply talking about what you see in front of you. In fact, many places around France and the world are called Bellevue. This fairly common name is an interesting indicator of what the place was once known for – and maybe still is: a beautiful view.
You can find more phrases and expressions with vue on this list.
There’s another word derived from voir that you’re probably very familiar with: revoir. As you may have guessed, adding the suffix re- to voir gives it the meaning “to see again”. So, au revoir literally translates to “Until the next time we see one another.”
Revoir can also mean “revise/review” or “have another look”.
You can see some additional examples of how revoir is used on this webpage.
What does se voir mean?
Like most verbs in French, voir can be used with a reflexive pronoun in front of it.
Unlike most verbs in French, using voir with a reflexive pronoun can significantly alter its meaning.
Depending on context, se voir can mean :
To see oneself
This could reference seeing one’s reflection, or envisioning oneself in a hypothetical or dream situation. For instance, Elle se voyait reine de France. (She pictured herself/imagined herself the queen of France.)
Another example you might be familiar with is Charles Aznavour’s famous song Je m’y voyais déjà (I already saw myself there), in which the singer reminisces about his early days, when he already dreamt of superstardom.
To see each other
As in English, this can mean anything from spotting one another in a crowd, to hanging out together, to dating.
Se voir in this context is often used with the pronoun on in spoken French. For instance, On s’est vus hier (We saw each other/hung out/spent time together yesterday) is an extremely common statement. You may notice something seems a bit off, though; vus is plural although on is singular. This is because when it’s implied that on stands in for more than one person, the participle is used in the plural.
To end up/to find oneself…
Jules s’est vu obligé de vendre son squelette de tyrannosaure. (Jules ended up having to sell his tyrannosaurus skeleton.)
To be easily visible, obvious
Ça se voit qu’elle porte un t-shirt sous sa robe. (You can see that she’s wearing a t-shirt under her dress.) Or in a less literal sense: Ça se voit qu’elle n’aime pas sa belle-mère. (It’s obvious that she doesn’t like her mother-in-law.)
To see someone again
As with voir, you can also add the suffix re- to the voir in se voir. This gives it the meaning “to see one another again”, or in special cases, to see oneself again.
You’ll often hear se revoir used in statements like On se reverra bientôt (We’ll see each other again soon.). You can find more examples with se revoiron this webpage.
Se voir conjugation
Unlike voir, se voir is not only an irregular verb, but also one conjugated with être. This means that you’ll not only have to memorize its conjugation (which is of course the same as voir), but also make sure its participle agrees with the subject.
Here’s how to conjugate se voir in the most common French verb tenses:
| Present | Passé Composé | Imparfait |
| je me vois | je me suis vu(e) | je me voyais |
| tu te vois | tu t’es vu(e) | tu te voyais |
| il/elle/on se voit | il/elle/on s’est vu(e) | il/elle/on se voyait |
| nous nous voyons | nous nous sommes vu(e)s | nous nous voyions |
| vous vous voyez | vous vous êtes vu(e)(s) | vous vous voyiez |
| ils/elles se voient | ils/elles se sont vu(e)s | ils/elles se voyaient |
| Future | Conditional | Subjunctive |
| je me verrai | je me verrais | que je me voie |
| tu te verras | tu te verrais | que tu te voies |
| il/elle/on se verra | il/elle/on se verrait | qu’ il/elle/on se voie |
| nous nous verrons | nous nous verrions | que nous nous voyions |
| vous vous verrez | vous vous verriez | que vous vous voyiez |
| ils/elles se verront | ils/elles se verraient | qu’ils/elles se voient |
| Imperative |
| Vois-toi (tu) |
| Voyons -nous(nous) |
| Voyez-vous (vous) |
Expressions and phrases with voir
It’s easy to see why a verb like voir is used in a significant number of phrases and expressions in French. Here are some of the most common.
Bien vu
Meaning: Good catch/Well spotted/You’re right!
Ex: – Attention, je pense que tu as oublié de mettre un accent sur le « e ». – Ah, oui. Bien vu! (“Careful! I think you forgot to put an accent on the ‘e’.” “Ah, good catch!”)
Être bien vu(e) (de)
Meaning: To be well perceived/regarded by others.
Ex: En France, il est bien vu de dire « Bonjour » et « Bonne journée » quand on entre et sort d’un magasin, même si on n’achète rien. (In France, people approve of saying “Bonjour” and “Bonne journée” when you enter and leave a shop, even if you haven’t bought anything.)
Être mal vu(e) (de)
Meaning: To be badly perceived by others.
Ex: Les tongs deviennent de plus en plus à la mode en France, mais ils restent mal vus par la plupart de Français. (Flip-flops are becoming more and more fashionable in France, but they’re still poorly regarded by most French people.)
Ça reste à voir
Meaning: That remains to be seen.
Faire voir
Meaning: To show.
This is usually used in the imperative.
Ex: Fais voir ! – Show me/Let me see that.
N’avoir rien à voir avec…
Meaning: To have nothing to do with….
Ex : Ça n’a rien a voir avec que j’étais en train de te dire ! (That has nothing to do with what I was saying to you!).
Voir ci-dessous
Meaning: See below.
This phrase is mostly used in formal/professional correspondence.
Voir quelque chose d’un bon œil/voir quelque chose d’un mauvais œil
Meaning: To see something as bad/good.
Ex: Ses parents voient d’un mauvais œil son choix de carrière. (His parents don’t approve of/don’t like his choice of career.)
Voir grand
Meaning: To have a big, ambitious vision.
Ex: Pour nos vacances d’été, mon père a vu grand. (My father had an ambitious plan for our summer vacation.)
Voir du pays
Meaning: To travel around, get around a bit.
Voir le jour
Meaning: To come into being/to be created/founded.
Ex: Après plusieurs échecs, leur restaurant a enfin vu le jour. (After several setbacks, they finally opened their restaurant.)
C’est ce qu’on va voir
Meaning: We’ll see about that.
Voir l’intérêt (de)…
Meaning: To see the point (in/of)…
Ex : Je ne vois pas l’intérêt de passer du temps avec elles. (I don’t see the point in spending time with them.)
Il faut le voir pour le croire
Meaning: It has to be seen to be believed.
Voir double
Meaning: To see double/have double vision.
Ex: Je vois double ! – Pas du tout ; ce sont des jumeaux. (I’m seeing double ! – Not at all; they’re twins.)
Voir la vie en rose –
Meaning: o see life with rose colored glasses/to see life in an optimistic way.
For an example, let’s use the refrain of Edith Piaf’s iconic song La vie en rose :
Quand il me prend dans ses bras, il me parle tout bas, je vois la vie en rose.
When he takes me in his arms, talks to me softly, I see the world with rose-colored glasses/I see the beauty of life.
Edith Piaf
Voir tout en noir
Meaning: To see everything in a negative light.
Basically, the opposite of voir la vie en rose.
Voir le mal partout
Meaning: To see the bad in everything.
Voir le rapport
Meaning: To see the connection/relationship between things.
Example: Tu me parlais de ta journée à l’école et maintenant tu parles de robots ? Je ne vois pas le rapport. (You were talking to me about your day at school and now you’re talking about robots? I don’t see the connection.)
La façon de voir les choses/la manière de voir les choses
Meaning: The way of seeing things.
Ex : Nous n’avons pas la même façon de voir les choses. OR Nous ne voyons pas les choses de la même façon. (We don’t see things the same way.)
Voir les choses en face
Meaning: To see things as they really are/to face facts.
Voir venir
Meaning: To see something or someone coming.
Je l’ai vu venir (I saw it coming) and Je n’ai rien vu venir (I didn’t see it coming) are very common phrases. But you could also say, for example, Je le vois venir. (I see him/it coming) simply to describe seeing someone/something coming towards you.
Voyons voir
Meaning: Let’s see.
Ex : La lettre doit être dans ses papiers…voyons voir…. (The letter must be among his papers….let’s see….).
Voir clair
Meaning: To see things clearly.
On verra ça plus tard
Meaning: We’ll see about that/deal with that later.
À toi/vous de voir
Meaning: It’s up to you.
And in case you were getting bored with these perfectly normal expressions, here’s one that’s a bit NSFW:
Aller se faire voir
Meaning: Screw you/get lost/sod off/bugger off.
Va te faire voir !
Screw you!
I hope you can see why voir is such an important verb in French. Do you have a favorite voir expression? Feel free to share it in the comments!