Introduction to Verbs 1.

2.
Serve as the subject of verbs.
May be singular or plural, masculine or feminine to agree
with the noun (subject) they replace.
Initiation aux verbes
French subject pronouns
Verbs are action words that express the action (He runs) or state of
being (I am tired) of a sentence. They are one of the main parts of
speech. The different subject pronouns are determined by number and person.

French verbs have to be “conjugated” or “inflected”; that is, changed  Number is divided into “singular” (one) and “plural” (more
according to how they are used. They have five to six different than one).
conjugations for each tense and mood.  Person includes “first person” (the speaker), “second
person” (the listener), and “third person” (neither the
speaker nor the listener).
The basic form of a verb is called the infinitive and is the name of the
verb. The English infinitive is “to” followed by a verb, while the French Thus, with two numbers and three persons, there are a total of six
infinitive is a single word with one of three infinitive endings (-er, –ir, grammatical persons, each of which has at least one French subject
or –re). These can then be further divided into regular verbs, which pronoun:
follow a standard pattern of verb conjugations, and irregular verbs,
which don’t:
singular plural
1 - parle (to Regula Irregula 1st je* I nous we
. e r speak) r -er r -er person
r verbs verbs 2nd tu you vous you
2 - finir (to Regula Irregula person
. i finish) r -ir r -ir 3rd il he, it ils they
r verbs verbs person
3 - vendr (to Regula Irregula elle she, it elles they
. r e sell) r -re r -re
e verbs verbs on one, we,
  When you encounter a new verb, be sure to learn its infinitive, they
which is used as the basis for just about everything you do with it.  * Notes
(The French Verb Deconjugator can help!)

 Je is only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.

Most French verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending to
find the "radical" or "root" (e.g., parler –> parl-) and then adding the  Je contracts to j’ in front of a vowel or mute h. (Informally, it
appropriate ending, which is determined by a combination of five also contracts in front of consonants – learn more.)
different elements: Par exemple…

1. Number
J’aime le I like
2. Person chocolat. chocolate.
3. Tense
4. Mood
Oui, j’aime le Yes, I like
chocolat. chocolate.
5. Voice
In addition to "he" and "she," il and elle mean “it” when they replace a

Subject Pronouns
noun of that gender, so le livre (the book) becomes il and la
pomme (the apple) becomes elle.

Pronoms sujets  Ils is used for men, masculine nouns, and mixed gender
groups – it is the default when referring to plural groups.
Subject pronouns are a type of personal pronoun that indicate who or  Elles can be used only for a group of women and/or feminine
what is performing the action of a verb. nouns.
  À noter : There are two French words for "you": learn more.

Par exemple…
On is a special case. It can mean "you," "they," or people in general,
and it can also be an informal replacement for "we." Regardless of
meaning, on is always conjugated as a third person singular – learn
Je suis prêt. I‘m ready. more.

Nous devons We need to
 As in English, plural pronouns replace two or more singular
partir. leave. pronouns: you and I = we (nous), you and he = you (vous), etc.
But when you actually want to use two singular pronouns –
saying something like "you and I" as opposed to "we" – French
Characteristics of subject pronouns uses stressed pronouns instead.
Verb Tense   Tense vs Mood

Les temps du verbe Tense is about time, Mood is about attitude.

The grammatical term tense comes from Old French tens, from  There are three Tenses: present, past, and future – they tell
Latin tempus, meaning "time." So a verb tense refers to the time that you when something happens.
the action of a verb occurs. French has three tenses:  The six Moods indicate how the speaker feels about what’s
happening, whether it’s fact, supposition, command, or
possibility.
1. Present Every verb form has Tense and Mood – they work together, as you can
see in my French verb timeline.
2. Past
3. Future
Divided between these three tenses are eight verb forms.*
Present Tense
The French present tense has just one verb form: Le présent de l’indicatif

 présent  | present The French present tense, also known as the present indicative, is
The French past tense consists of five verb forms: fairly similar to the English simple present, but there are some key
differences. The French present tense can talk about any of the
following:
 imparfait  | imperfect
 passé antérieur  | past anterior 1. Current actions or states of being
 passé composé  | compound past
 passé simple  | simple past
 plus-que-parfait  | past perfect (pluperfect) Je travaille. I’m working.
The French future tense comes in two varieties:
Il est en retard. He’s late.
2. Habitual actions or states of being
 futur  | future
 futur antérieur  | future perfect
 * Specific verb forms are often called "verb tenses," but Oui, je travaille Yes, I do work
technically this isn’t correct. There are just three tenses, as listed
above; the "tenses" listed in each category (what I refer to as "verb
le dimanche. on Sundays.
forms") are properly called "aspects."
Il est toujours en He’s always
retard. late.
Verb tense and mood 3. Actions which are about to occur

Verb tense must always be considered with respect to verb mood, a

separate but related phenomenon. The eight tenses above are all in the Je travaille I’m working
indicative mood, which is the default and largest mood. Any given verb
form is a combination of one tense and one mood. You can see how demain. tomorrow.
they all fit together in my French verb timeline.
Il arrive sur-le- He’ll be right
champ. here.
Verb categories 4. Absolute or general truths

In addition to being grouped by time, verb conjugations can be

separated into simple tenses and compound tenses, which is simply a
matter of how many words are included in their conjugations. Le soleil se lève The sun rises
à l’est. in the east.
 Présent, imparfait, passé simple, and futur are simple (one- L’eau est Water is
word) verb conjugations. essentielle à la essential to
 Passé antérieur, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, and futur
vie. life.
antérieur are compound (two-word) verb conjugations.
5. Conditions in likely situations (si  clauses)

Special verb groupings

Si tu veux, tu If you want, you
Verb forms are combined in various other ways depending on how
they’re used or conjugated, e.g.,
peux dîner avec can have dinner
moi. with me.
 Historical tenses Je vais le I’m going to
 Literary tenses renvoyer s’il fire him if he’s
 Periphrastic tenses est en retard late tomorrow.
 demain. je -e nous -ons
6. Historical accounts
tu -es vous -ez

  French vs English il -e ils -ent

Par exemple…

Much of the above applies to the English present tense, but as you can
see in some of the translations, there’s just one French present tense parler (to talk, speak)
with three possible English equivalents. Depending on the context, je
parle might be translated by any of these:
je parle nous parlons
1. I speak simple present tu parle vous parlez
s
2. I am speaking present progressive
il/elle/on parle ils/elles parlent
3. I do speak present emphatic
There’s no present progressive (to be + present participle) in French: je
suis parlant simply does not exist. Not only is it perfectly acceptable to Common regular -er verbs
say je parle maintenant to mean "I’m speaking right now," it’s the
most common way to say it. If you want to stress that you are doing
something right at this very moment, you can use the expression être
en train de; literally, "to be in the process of." For example, je suis en abaisser to lower, to push/pull
train de parler. However, this construction is far less common than down
the English present progressive; in most cases, the regular old present
tense works just fine in French. abîmer to ruin

Nor does French have a present emphatic. In most contexts, Oui, je

aimer to like, to love
parle français is a fine translation of "Yes, I do speak French." If you
really want to get that same stress across, you have to use an adverb arriver to arrive, to happen
such as effectivement or en effet: Oui, en effet, je parle français.
bouger** to move
For actions that began in the past and continue into the present, brosser to brush
French uses depuis plus the simple present, while English uses "since"
with the present perfect: J’habite ici depuis un an – "I’ve lived here for changer** to change
a year."
chanter to sing
  In English, the present tense is used after conjunctions that chercher to look for
indicate a future action. In French, however, this is incorrect:
these conjunctions must be followed by the future instead. commencer* to begin, start
*
Par exemple…
corriger** to correct
danser to dance
Je vais manger I’m going to eat as
dès que je soon as demander to ask for
rentrerai. I will arrive at détester to hate
home.
donner to give
Je vais manger I’m going to eat as
dès que soon as I arrive at écouter to listen to
je rentre. home. effacer** to erase
étudier to study
féliciter to congratulate
fêter to celebrate
Regular -er Verbs gagner to win, to earn

Verbes du premier groupe* glisser to slide

habiter to live
There are several thousand verbs that end in -er, the largest category of
regular French verbs. To conjugate them, remove the infinitive ending
jouer to play
and then add one of the following verb endings:
manger** to eat
 manquer to miss agrandir to enlarge, to increase
marcher to walk, to function avertir to warn
monter to climb bâtir to build
nager** to swim bénir to bless
parler to talk, to speak blanchir to whiten, to lighten
partager** to share choisir to choose
penser to think convertir to convert
regarder to watch, to look at définir to define
skier to ski établir to establish
travailler to work étourdir to stun, to deafen, to make
dizzy
trouver to find
visiter to visit (a place) finir to finish

voyager** to travel franchir to clear (an obstacle)

  The vast majority of verbs that end in -er follow this pattern; the grossir to gain weight, to get fat
only exceptions are aller and stem-changing verbs.
guérir to cure, to heal, to recover
investir to invest
maigrir to lose weight, to get thin
Regular -ir Verbs nourrir to feed, to nourish
Verbes du deuxième groupe* obéir to obey
punir to punish
There are several hundred regular French verbs that end in –ir. To
conjugate them, remove the infinitive ending and then add one of the réfléchir to reflect, to think
following verb endings:
remplir to fill
réussir to succeed
j -is nous -issons
e rougir to blush, to turn red
t -is vous -issez saisir to seize
u vieillir to age, grow old
i -it ils -issent  Several hundred verbs that end in –ir follow this pattern, but
many others (acquérir, courir, partir, avoir, etc) are irregular –
l ir  verbs.
Par exemple, remplir:

 * French grammarians consider that there are three types of

verbs.
je rempli nous remplisson
s s
tu rempli vous remplissez Regular -re Verbs
s
Verbes du troisième groupe*
il/elle/ rempli ils/ remplissen
on t elles t There are several dozen regular French verbs that end in -re,
sometimes called -dre verbs. To conjugate them, remove the infinitive
ending and then add one of the following verb endings:
Common regular -ir verbs

abolir to abolish j -s nous -ons

e
accomplir to accomplish
t -s vous -ez
agir to act
 There doesn’t seem to be an official name for them in French,* but in
u English, verbs with two different stems or radicals in the present
tense may be called stem-changing verbs, shoe verbs, or boot verbs.
i – ils -ent The last two names come from the fact that a line drawn around the
stem-changed, present tense conjugations creates a shoe or boot.**
l
Par exemple…
Stem-changing verbs take the same conjugation endings as regular -er
verbs, but have two different verb stems depending on the grammatical
perdre (to lose) person the verb is conjugated for: the first and second person plural
use the same stem as the infinitive, while all of the singular
conjugations as well as the third person plural have slightly different
stem. Though there are different types of stem-changed verbs, the
je perds nous perdons grammatical persons and tenses affected are the same for all of them,
so once you learn the patterns, you can conjugate any stem-changing
tu perds vous perdez verb.

il/elle/on perd ils/elles perdent

There are fewer than 100 stem-changing verbs, all recognizable by the
last four letters of the infinitive. They fall into seven conjugation
groups which can be reduced to three patterns.
Common regular -re verbs

attendre to wait (for) 1. Accent grave verbs

confondre to confuse All verbs that end in –é_er change the é to è in the stem-changed
conjugations:***
correspondr to correspond
e
défendre to defend
dépendre to depend
descendre to descend
entendre to hear, to understand
étendre to stretch
fondre to melt
mordre to bite
pendre to hang, suspend
perdre to lose
 altérer 
prétendre to claim – to alter
rendre to give back, to  céder – to give up, dispose of
 célébrer – to celebrate
return
 compléter – to complete
répandre to spread, to scatter  considérer – to consider
 différer – to differ
répondre to answer  espérer – to hope
suspendre to suspend  exagérer – to exaggerate
 gérer – to manage
tordre to twist  inquiéter – to worry
 modérer – to moderate
vendre to sell
 pénétrer – to enter
* According to French grammarians, there is no such thing as regular -
re verbs. All verbs that end in -re, including the ones defined here as  posséder – to possess
regular, are lumped together with irregular verbs under the  préférer – to prefer
heading verbes du troisième groupe.  protéger – to protect (note that protéger is also a spelling
change verb)
 refléter – to reflect

Stem-Changing Verbs - 

répéter – to repeat
révéler – to reveal

e_er -é_er -yer 


suggérer – to suggest
zébrer – to stripe
Verbes à deux radicaux Most verbs that end in –e_er change the e muet (the penultimate e) to
è:
  chanceler – to totter, wobble
 épeler – to spell
 rappeler – to call back, recall
 renouveler – to renew
 ruisseler – to flow, stream
 
 feuilleter – to leaf through
 hoqueter – to hiccup
 jeter – to throw
 projeter – to project
 rejeter – to reject

3. Y to I verbs
Verbs that end in –ayer, –oyer, or –uyer stem-change the Y to an I.
 acheter 
– to buy
For –oyer and –uyer verbs, the stem change is required.
 amener – to take
 ciseler – to chisel, carve
 corseter – to constrain, constrict
 crocheter – to crochet, to pick (a lock)
 démanteler – to dismantle, demolish
 écarteler – to tear apart
 emmener – to take
 enlever – to remove
 fileter – to thread
 fureter – to rummage, nose about
 geler – to freeze
 haleter – to pant
 harceler – to harass
 lever – to lift, raise
 marteler – to hammer, pound
 mener – to lead
 modeler – to model, shape
 peler – to peel  broyer 
 peser – to weigh – to grind
 promener – to walk  employer – to employ
  A few verbs that end in –eler and –eter undergo a different stem  envoyer – to send
change:  nettoyer – to clean
 se noyer – to drown
 renvoyer – to fire
2. Doubled consonant verbs
 tutoyer – to use tu

Instead of following the above pattern, the following French verbs that
 vouvoyer – to use vous
 
end in –eler and –eter double the l or t in the stem-changed
conjugations.  appuyer – to lean, press
 ennuyer – to bore
 essuyer – to wipe
For –ayer verbs, the stem change is optional: both je paie and je
paye are correct.

 balayer – to sweep
 effrayer – to frighten
 égayer – to cheer up
 essayer – to try
 payer – to pay
 rayer – to draw a line (on/through), to cross out

Quiz: Stem-changing verbs
 À noter

* Le Bon Usage discusses these supposedly "regular" verbs in a section

 appeler  called Observations sur le radical, b) Verbes en -er : faits aussi
– to call phonétique (as opposed to faits purement graphiques).
** The conjugations with stem changes vary by verb tense and mood: Lessons

   * using  faire
1. In the present tense, subjunctive, and imperative, the stem    * expressions with  faire
change occurs in all conjugations except nous and vous.    * faire  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files
2. In the future and conditional, the stem change occurs in all
conjugations.***
3. However, in the imperfect, present participle, past Tests
participle, passé simple, and imperfect subjunctive, there is
no stem change.
   * using  faire
Confused? You can see how all of these stem changes and    * faire  conjugations
non-stem changes look in the verb conjugation tables – click  
any of the verbs above.

*** For é_er verbs, the stem change is optional in the future and DIRE – to say, to tell
conditional: both conjugations are equally correct.

Je te dis la vérité. – I’m telling you the truth.

Top 10 Verbs Lessons

Les dix premiers verbes    * using  dire

   * expressions with  dire
   * dire  conjugations
There are thousands of French verbs, but some are far more important    * conjugations with sound files
than others. Be sure you know how to conjugate and use the 10 most
common French verbs.
Test

ÊTRE – to be    * dire  conjugations

 

Je suis fatigué. – I’m tired.

ALLER – to go
Lessons

Je vais à la banque. – I’m going to the bank.

   * using  être
   * expressions with  être
   * être  conjugations Lessons
   * conjugations with sound files
   * using  aller
   * expressions with  aller
Tests    * aller  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files
   * using  être
   * être  conjugations
  Test

   * aller  conjugations
AVOIR – to have  

J’ai un chien. – I have a dog.

VOIR – to see
Lessons
Je vois des étoiles. – I see some stars.
   * using  avoir
   * expressions with  avoir Lessons
   * avoir  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files
   * using  voir
   * expressions with  voir
   * voir  conjugations
Tests    * conjugations with sound files

   * using  avoir
   * avoir  conjugations Test
 
   * voir  conjugations
 
FAIRE – to do, to make

Je fais la vaisselle. – I’m doing the dishes. SAVOIR – to know

Je sais son adresse. – I know his address.

Lessons

   * using  savoir
   * savoir  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files

Test

   * savoir  conjugations
 

POUVOIR – can, to be able to

Je peux travailler. – I can work.

Lessons

   * using  pouvoir
   * pouvoir  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files

Test

   * pouvoir  conjugations
 

VOULOIR – to want

Je veux manger. – I want to eat.

Lessons

   * using  vouloir
   * expressions with  vouloir
   * vouloir  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files

Test

   * vouloir  conjugations
 

DEVOIR – must, to have to

Je dois étudier. – I have to study.

Lessons

   * using  devoir
   * expressions with  devoir
   * devoir  conjugations
   * conjugations with sound files

Test

   * devoir  conjugations