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A1 · Verb Constructions · Published
Venir De
Venir de + an infinitive is how French says that something just happened: je viens de manger means "I just ate". Grammars call it the passé récent, the recent past — and the construction carries the "just" all by itself, where English needs an adverb:
Je viens de recevoir ton message.
Only venir changes with the subject; de stays put, and the second verb stays in the infinitive. Slide venir into the imparfait and the same pattern means "had just": il venait de sortir, "he had just gone out".
In short
- Passé récent = present of venir + de + infinitive: je viens de manger, "I just ate".
- Only venir is conjugated; de is invariable and elides before a vowel or mute h: elle vient d’appeler.
- Imparfait venait de = "had just": le bus venait de partir.
venir de (just did / had just)infinitivealler (about to)venir de + place (origin)· hover a highlighted word for its label
Conjugate venir, keep de
Three slots, and only the first one moves: venir in the present tense (it is irregular — see irregular present verbs), then de, then the dictionary form of the verb. Before a vowel or mute h, de shrinks to d’: il vient d’habiter ici (liaison and elision).
subject + venir in the present + de + infinitive
| Person | venir (present) | Passé récent |
|---|---|---|
| je | je viens | je viens de sortir |
| tu | tu viens | tu viens de sortir |
| il / elle / on | il vient | il vient de sortir |
| nous | nous venons | nous venons de sortir |
| vous | vous venez | vous venez de sortir |
| ils / elles | ils viennent | ils viennent de sortir |
I just finished my homework.
— Only viens changes with the subject; finir stays in the infinitive.
She just arrived at the station.
— Before the vowel of arriver, de elides to d’.
Venait de: had just
One step further back: venir in the imparfait + de + infinitive means "had just done", usually sitting right before a passé composé event. And that is the entire system — present for "just did", imparfait for "had just". No other tense of venir builds a passé récent.
The train had just left when we reached the platform.
— venait is the imparfait — "had just" — and the passé composé event lands right after it.
The mirror of the futur proche
The passé récent has a twin pointing the other way: the futur proche, aller + infinitive. Both conjugate one everyday verb in the present and freeze the real verb — venir de looks one step back, aller one step ahead. For most verbs the à / de / nothing choice is pure vocabulary (verbs with à or de); these two are grammar, a tense-like pair wrapped around the present moment.
We just started the movie.
— One step back from now: vient de + infinitive = "just did".
We’re about to start the movie.
— Same skeleton, other direction: va + infinitive = "about to".
Venir de + place is just "to come from"
The passé récent needs an infinitive after de. When a noun or place name follows instead, venir keeps its ordinary meaning — origin: je viens de Lyon, "I’m from Lyon". That territory, and which preposition each country takes, belongs to prepositions with countries.
They come from Bordeaux.
— A place follows, so viennent de is ordinary venir — "come from".
They just visited Bordeaux.
— An infinitive follows — visiter flips the sentence to "they just visited".
Common mistakes
✗Nous venons manger, nous n’avons plus faim.
✓Nous venons de manger, nous n’avons plus faim.
Without de there is no passé récent: venir + infinitive means coming somewhere to do something (je viens manger = "I’m coming to eat"). The de is the whole construction.
✗J’ai juste vu Léa dans le couloir.
✓Je viens de voir Léa dans le couloir.
Juste with a past tense means "only / merely", not "a moment ago". Recency needs venir de — je viens juste de voir, with juste inside the construction, is fine as reinforcement.
✗Elle est venue de partir quand tu as sonné.
✓Elle venait de partir quand tu as sonné.
"Had just" takes venir in the imparfait, never the passé composé — est venue de partir does not exist in French.
Check yourself
1 / 3Trop tard, ils ___ partir !
2 / 3Ça y est, elle ___ la nouvelle ! (apprendre)
3 / 3Le film ___ commencer quand nous sommes entrés.
Frequently asked questions
What is the passé récent in French?
The construction venir de + infinitive, which places an action just before now: je viens de manger, "I just ate". Only venir is conjugated — in the present for "just did", in the imparfait (venait de) for "had just".
How do you say "I just did something" in French?
With the present of venir + de + an infinitive: je viens de terminer, "I just finished". French needs no adverb — the construction carries the "just"; adding juste inside it (je viens juste de terminer) is optional reinforcement.
What is the difference between venir de + infinitive and venir de + a place?
An infinitive after venir de means "just did": je viens de déjeuner, "I just had lunch". A noun or place name means origin: je viens de Nice, "I’m from Nice" — see prepositions with countries for the place patterns.
Memory tip
Two everyday verbs bracket the present moment: venir de looks back (je viens de manger — I just ate), aller looks ahead (je vais manger — I’m about to eat). Conjugate the little verb, freeze the real one.
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