français · A1 · verb · 4 minutes
Faire in the present
Handle doing, making, weather, sport, and fixed daily expressions.
Understand the choice
Faire covers creation and activity, but its real power is in phrases: faire du sport, faire les courses, faire attention, faire beau, and faire froid. Store those combinations instead of treating it as a universal translation of do and make.
Core rule: The present of faire is fais, fais, fait, faisons, faites, font.
Notice it in context
Je fais le dîner et nous faisons du café.
I make dinner and we make coffee.
Fais and faisons contrast the singular and plural speakers; both objects name something being prepared.
Qu’est-ce que tu fais le samedi ?
What do you do on Saturdays?
Fais is the tu form inside an est-ce que question.
Il fait beau aujourd’hui.
The weather is nice today.
Impersonal il fait describes general weather.
What to remember
- Vous faites is irregular; do not build faisez.
- Faire + infinitive can mean to have or make something done: faire réparer la voiture.
Common trap: Not every English make uses faire: make a decision is prendre une décision, and make someone happy is rendre quelqu’un heureux.