Why this matters

Imagine you just finished a phone call and your friend asks what you were doing. In English you say "I just called someone." In French there's a beautiful, simple structure for this: venir de + infinitive. It's elegant, easy, and used all the time in everyday French. Best of all, you already know how to conjugate venir!

🦝 Remy says: "Venir de is like the 'hot off the press' tense. Whatever just happened — freshly finished, still warm. It's one of the most satisfying structures in French because it's so useful and so simple."

The Structure

Conjugated VENIR + de/d' + infinitive

That's it! Venir is conjugated in the present tense, and the infinitive stays unchanged.

Before a vowel: de becomes d' → je viens **d'**arriver, elle vient **d'**entrer.

Real-Life Examples

Je viens de manger — je n'ai pas faim. = I just ate — I'm not hungry.
Tu viens de téléphoner à qui ? = Who did you just call?
Il vient de partir, tu l'as manqué ! = He just left, you missed him!
Nous venons d'arriver à l'hôtel. = We just arrived at the hotel.
Vous venez de recevoir un message. = You just received a message.
Elles viennent de finir le projet. = They just finished the project.

In the Past: Venait de (Imparfait)

You can also use venir de in the imperfect tense (venais de, venait de...) to say "had just done" in a past context. This is more advanced but worth noting:

Il venait de partir quand tu as appelé. = He had just left when you called.

You'll revisit this after learning the imparfait in Day 11.

🦝 Remy's memory trick: "Venir de is like saying 'I come FROM eating' — as if the action is the place you just came from. It's a journey: you just came from finishing that pizza. Very poetic when you think about it!"

📝 Exercise 1 — Fill in the blank

Complete with the correct form of venir de + infinitive.

Je ________ (finir) mon travail.
Elle ________ (arriver) à la gare.
Nous ________ (manger) au restaurant.
Tu ________ (appeler) quelqu'un ?
Ils ________ (partir) il y a deux minutes.

✅ Answers:

viens de finir
vient d'arriver
venons de manger
viens d'appeler
viennent de partir

📝 Exercise 2 — Transform

Rewrite using venir de + infinitive.

J'ai mangé. (I just...) → ___
Elle a fini. → ___
Nous sommes arrivés. → ___
Ils ont regardé le film. → ___

✅ Answers:

Je viens de manger.
Elle vient de finir.
Nous venons d'arriver.
Ils viennent de regarder le film.

📝 Exercise 3 — Translate

I just bought a new phone. → ___
She just called me. → ___
We just arrived at the station. → ___
They (m.) just finished their meal. → ___
Did you (tu) just wake up? → ___

✅ Answers:

Je viens d'acheter un nouveau téléphone.
Elle vient de m'appeler.
Nous venons d'arriver à la gare.
Ils viennent de finir leur repas.
Tu viens de te réveiller ?

🎯 Today's challenge

For the next hour, narrate three things as you finish them using venir de. Finished your coffee? Je viens de boire mon café. Sent a message? Je viens d'envoyer un message. Make it a little game!

⭐ Key takeaways

Venir de + infinitive = to have just done something — use it for very recent actions.
Conjugate venir in present tense; the main verb stays as an infinitive.
Before a vowel: de → d' (je viens **d'**arriver).