The best app to learn French verbs depends on which skill you're actually missing. For conjugation specifically, a typed-answer app that drills verbs in frequency order and explains your mistakes will out-teach any broad course, because broad courses mostly train recognition through multiple choice. Below is an honest, hands-on comparison so you can pick the one that fits how you learn, not just the one with the biggest ad budget.

The one thing that decides everything: production vs recognition

Before the list, here's the criterion that matters more than any feature:

Does the app make you produce the verb form, or just recognize it?

  • Recognition = picking suis from four options, or tapping words from a bank. It feels productive and it's easy to build a streak on. It does not reliably transfer to speaking or writing.
  • Production = typing or saying je suis from a blank prompt. It's harder, it's slower, and it's the thing conversation and exams actually require.

Almost every "learn French" app defaults to recognition because it's more fun and keeps people engaged. That's fine for vocabulary. For conjugation, it's the reason so many learners "know the rule" but freeze when they have to use it. Hold every app below against this test.

The apps, honestly

Duolingo

Good at: motivation, streaks, vocabulary, and getting you to open something every single day. If the hard part for you is consistency, this is genuinely useful.

Falls short for verbs: it treats conjugation shallowly and leans heavily on multiple choice and word banks. You can maintain a 300-day streak without ever producing a conjugated form unprompted. Use it for habit and vocabulary, not as your conjugation tool.

Babbel

Good at: structured, dialogue-first lessons with clearer grammar explanations than Duolingo. It feels more like a real course, and the review manager is decent.

Falls short for verbs: conjugation is folded into broader lessons rather than drilled to automaticity, and much of the practice is still recognition-style. Good general course; not a focused verb trainer.

Busuu

Good at: its community feature, native speakers correct your written and spoken submissions, which is real production practice you rarely get elsewhere for free.

Falls short for verbs: like Babbel, conjugation is one thread in a general course rather than a systematic, frequency-ordered drill. The correction loop is great; the verb-specific structure is thin.

Le Conjugueur / Reverso Conjugaison

Good at: being the best references available. Type any verb and get the full table across every tense and mood, instantly, free. Reverso also shows the form in example sentences.

Falls short for practice: they're references, not trainers. No drilling loop, no feedback on your attempts, no progress tracking. Indispensable for looking things up, but they won't build the skill on their own. Pair them with a practice app.

Anki

Good at: spaced repetition done properly, and total control if you're willing to build or curate decks. For a disciplined self-learner, it's powerful and free.

Falls short for verbs: setup is genuinely fiddly, and most shared conjugation decks are recognition-style cards (see the form, flip, "did I know it?"). Making true typed-production cards for every tense is a project in itself. Great for the motivated tinkerer; a lot of friction for everyone else.

Bonjour Verbs

Good at: the exact gap above, typed-answer conjugation practice across all 15 tenses and moods and 2,000+ verbs, structured by frequency into guided levels, with stepwise feedback that shows the derivation of a wrong answer (prendre → stem pren- → nous → prenions) instead of just flashing the correct form. It works fully offline, an account is optional, and it tracks per-tense mastery so you can see exactly which tenses are solid and which are shaky.

Worth knowing: it's deliberately narrow. It doesn't teach all of French, no travel vocabulary, no dialogues, no culture lessons. It makes you fluent at conjugation specifically, which is usually the exact wall people are stuck at. If you want a single all-in-one course, it isn't that; if the verbs are what's beating you, that's the whole point of it.

Which one should you actually use?

A realistic, honest stack for most self-learners:

  1. A reference (Le Conjugueur or Reverso) for instant lookups, free.
  2. A dedicated typed-answer practice app (Bonjour Verbs) for the daily production drilling that builds automaticity.
  3. Optionally a broad app (Duolingo or Babbel) for vocabulary, dialogues, and motivation, if you enjoy it.

The one category not to skip is #2. Vocabulary and references are easy to bolt on; the production practice is the part that moves you from "I understand the rule" to "I can use it without thinking." If you only have room for one paid tool and verbs are your bottleneck, spend it there.

For the how, not just the what, see the fastest realistic way to learn French verbs and the 30 most useful French verbs to learn first.

Common questions

What is the best app to learn French verbs?

There's no single winner for everyone. For conjugation specifically, a typed-answer app that drills verbs in frequency order and explains your mistakes beats broad courses, which mostly train recognition. Duolingo and Babbel are better for vocabulary and early motivation; Le Conjugueur and Reverso are the best references; Bonjour Verbs is built specifically for typed conjugation practice. Match the tool to the skill you're missing.

Is Duolingo good for learning French verbs?

It's good for vocabulary, daily habit, and early exposure, but it treats conjugation shallowly and leans on multiple choice and word banks, which train recognition rather than production. You can keep a long streak without ever typing a conjugated form from memory. A fine starting point, but most learners need dedicated typed-answer practice to actually produce the forms.

What's the difference between a conjugation reference and a practice app?

A reference (Le Conjugueur, Reverso) shows the full table of a verb instantly, for looking things up. A practice app makes you produce the forms and gives feedback, for building the skill. References don't drill you and don't track progress, so they can't build automaticity alone. Most learners need both.

Are free French verb apps good enough?

The free tiers are enough to start and to find out whether you'll stick with a routine. Free references like Le Conjugueur and Reverso are excellent and complete. Free practice apps usually cap tenses, verbs, or daily sessions. If you're serious about fluency, a paid conjugation app costs less than a single tutoring hour and saves months of inefficient drilling.

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