The most useful verbs at work

Verbs are the engine of every sentence. If you know the right verb, you can often say what you mean with a short, clear phrase. This page groups the most useful verbs at work by what you do with them.

Les verbes sont le moteur de la phrase. Avec le bon verbe, on dit souvent ce qu’on veut en une phrase courte. Cette page les regroupe par activité.

1. Communicating (Communiquer)

Verb	Français	Example
discuss	discuter de	“Let’s discuss the plan.”
explain	expliquer	“Can you explain the error?”
clarify	clarifier, préciser	“Could you clarify the scope?”
mention	mentionner	“She mentioned a deadline.”
raise	soulever (un point)	“I’d like to raise a concern.”
suggest	suggérer	“I suggest we wait.”
propose	proposer (plus formel)	“We propose a new design.”
recommend	recommander	“I recommend using a queue.”
agree	être d’accord	“I agree with you.”
confirm	confirmer	“Can you confirm the date?”
announce	annoncer	“We announced the release.”
share	partager	“I’ll share the slides.”
update	informer, mettre à jour	“I’ll update you tomorrow.”
report	signaler, faire un rapport	“She reported a bug.”
present	présenter	“I’ll present the demo.”
reply / respond	répondre	“I’ll reply by email.”
notify	prévenir, notifier	“Please notify the team.”
remind	rappeler	“Remind me to send it.”

2. Organising and planning (Organiser)

Verb	Français	Example
plan	planifier	“We plan to release in May.”
schedule	programmer, planifier	“Let’s schedule a meeting.”
prioritise	prioriser	“We need to prioritise bugs.”
assign	attribuer	“I assigned the ticket to Sam.”
delegate	déléguer	“She delegates small tasks.”
coordinate	coordonner	“I coordinate the releases.”
organise	organiser	“He organised the workshop.”
postpone	reporter (à plus tard)	“We postponed the launch.”
reschedule	déplacer (un rendez-vous)	“Can we reschedule to Friday?”
cancel	annuler	“The meeting is cancelled.”
attend	assister à	“I’ll attend the demo.”
join	rejoindre	“Join the call at 10.”
track	suivre (l’avancement)	“We track progress in Jira.”
review	relire, passer en revue	“Could you review my PR?”
approve	approuver, valider	“The manager approved the budget.”

3. Building and fixing (Construire et corriger)

Verb	Français	Example
build	construire, compiler	“We built a new API.”
create	créer	“I created a new branch.”
develop	développer	“They develop mobile apps.”
implement	mettre en œuvre	“I implemented the search.”
design	concevoir	“She designed the schema.”
write	écrire	“I wrote the tests.”
test	tester	“Did you test it?”
deploy	déployer	“We deploy twice a week.”
release	publier, livrer	“We released version 2.”
merge	fusionner	“I merged the PR.”
commit	enregistrer un changement	“Commit your changes.”
push / pull	envoyer / récupérer du code	“Push your branch.”
fix	corriger	“I fixed the bug.”
debug	déboguer	“I’m debugging the issue.”
refactor	restructurer le code	“We refactored the module.”
improve	améliorer	“This improves speed.”
optimise	optimiser	“We optimised the query.”
upgrade	monter de version	“Let’s upgrade to version 5.”
migrate	migrer	“We migrated the data.”
integrate	intégrer	“We integrate with a payment API.”
maintain	maintenir	“She maintains the library.”
monitor	surveiller	“We monitor the errors.”
document	documenter	“Please document the API.”
configure	configurer	“I configured the server.”
automate	automatiser	“We automate the tests.”
scale	passer à l’échelle	“The system scales well.”

4. Analysing and deciding (Analyser et décider)

Verb	Français	Example
analyse	analyser	“I analysed the logs.”
investigate	chercher la cause, enquêter	“I’m investigating a crash.”
evaluate	évaluer	“We evaluated three tools.”
compare	comparer	“Compare both options.”
decide	décider	“We decided to wait.”
choose	choisir	“We chose React.”
estimate	estimer	“I estimate two days.”
measure	mesurer	“We measure performance.”
check	vérifier	“I’ll check the logs.”
verify	vérifier (confirmer)	“Please verify the result.”
validate	valider	“We validated the idea.”
ensure	s’assurer que	“Ensure the tests pass.”
consider	envisager, prendre en compte	“Let’s consider the risks.”
assess	évaluer (un risque, un impact)	“We assessed the impact.”

5. Working with people (Travailler avec les autres)

Verb	Français	Example
help	aider	“Can you help me?”
support	soutenir, assurer le support	“She supports new users.”
mentor	accompagner (un junior)	“I mentor two juniors.”
train	former	“We train new hires.”
hire	recruter	“We’re hiring developers.”
onboard	intégrer (un nouvel arrivant)	“We onboard new people on Monday.”
collaborate	collaborer	“We collaborate with design.”
contribute	contribuer	“He contributed to the project.”
lead	diriger, mener	“She leads the team.”
manage	gérer, manager	“He manages a team of five.”
handle	gérer, traiter	“I’ll handle the request.”
own	être responsable de	“Who owns this feature?”
pair	travailler en binôme	“Let’s pair on this bug.”
motivate	motiver	“Clear goals motivate people.”

6. Problems and risks (Problèmes et risques)

Verb	Français	Example
solve	résoudre	“We solved the problem.”
resolve	résoudre (un incident)	“The issue was resolved.”
troubleshoot	diagnostiquer, dépanner	“I’m troubleshooting the network.”
prevent	empêcher, prévenir	“Tests prevent bugs.”
avoid	éviter	“Avoid big releases.”
delay	retarder	“The bug delayed the release.”
fail	échouer	“The build failed.”
break	casser	“This change broke the login.”
crash	planter	“The app crashes on start.”
block	bloquer	“This blocks the release.”
escalate	faire remonter	“I escalated the issue.”
mitigate	atténuer	“Tests mitigate the risk.”

7. Phrasal verbs (Verbes à particule)

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word (up, out, into…). The meaning is often different from the parts. They are very common in spoken English at work.

Un verbe à particule = un verbe + une petite préposition. Le sens change souvent. Très fréquent à l’oral.

Phrasal verb	Français	Example
pick up	prendre en charge	“I picked up a ticket.”
look into	examiner	“I’ll look into it.”
run out of	ne plus avoir de	“We ran out of time.”
follow up (on)	assurer le suivi	“I’ll follow up on that.”
set up	mettre en place	“I set up the pipeline.”
roll out	déployer progressivement	“We rolled out the feature.”
roll back	revenir en arrière	“We rolled back the release.”
rule out	exclure	“We ruled out a network issue.”
back up	sauvegarder, soutenir	“Back up your data.”
sign off (on)	valider formellement	“The client signed off on it.”
bring up	évoquer	“She brought up a good point.”
carry out	réaliser	“We carried out the tests.”
catch up	faire le point, rattraper	“Let’s catch up tomorrow.”
figure out	comprendre, trouver	“I figured out the bug.”
hand over	passer le relais	“I’ll hand over to Sam.”
run into	tomber sur (un problème)	“I ran into an error.”
sort out	régler	“Let’s sort this out.”
wrap up	conclure, terminer	“Let’s wrap up.”
kick off	lancer, démarrer	“We kick off on Monday.”
point out	souligner, faire remarquer	“He pointed out a typo.”
come up with	trouver (une idée)	“She came up with a plan.”
go through	passer en revue	“Let’s go through the list.”
step in	intervenir	“Sam stepped in to help.”
take over	reprendre	“I’ll take over the project.”
get back to	revenir vers (quelqu’un)	“I’ll get back to you.”
reach out	contacter	“Reach out if you need help.”

8. Irregular verbs to know by heart (Verbes irréguliers)

Verb	Past simple	Past participle
begin	began	begun
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
choose	chose	chosen
do	did	done
feel	felt	felt
find	found	found
get	got	got (gotten in US)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
have	had	had
hold	held	held
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
make	made	made
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
show	showed	shown
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
take	took	taken
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
understand	understood	understood
write	wrote	written

À retenir

• Apprends les verbes par famille d’activité : c’est plus facile à retenir qu’une liste alphabétique.
• Les verbes à particule (pick up, look into, roll out) sont partout à l’oral ; commence par ceux de la liste.
• Vérifie toujours le participe passé des verbes irréguliers pour le present perfect.