adminYou are probably thinking ” Oh no, French verbs are so difficult to learn” … But luckily, there’s a pattern to conjugating regular French verbs into the simple and compound tenses, so if you learn to conjugate one verb in each of the groups, you will know how to conjugate hundreds of others!
First of all, what is a verb?
- A verb is a “doing word”, an “action word”
- It is a word that reveals what is happening . It can express a physical action, a mental action, or a state of being.Ex: Parler (to speak) / penser (to think)/finir (to finish) etc…
- The infinitive form of a verb is a verb in its basic form. In English, it’s usually preceded by “to” but not always. In French, it is usually one word with the following endings : ER, IR, and RE. If you look up a verb in a dictionary, you’ll find its infinitive form .
- French verbs are classified into 3 groups and each of them has different endings.
- – ER VERBS : Parler, écouter, marcher, regarder etc… (to speak, to listen, to walk, to watch/to look etc…)
- – IR VERBS: Finir, choisir, réussir etc… (to finish, to choose, to succeed etc…)
- – RE /-OIR VERBS: Attendre, mettre, voir etc… (to wait for, to put, to see etc…)
Look at the table below :
| Group | Infinitive ending | Conjugation | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groupe 1 | - ER | To conjugate -ER verbs remove the infinitive ending to find the stem & add the endings -e/-es/-e/-ons/-ez/-ent |
|
| Ex: Parler (to speak) | Je parle Tu parles Il/elle/on parle Nous parlons Vous parlez Ils/elles parlent | ||
| Groupe 2 | - IR | To conjugate -IR verbs, remove the infinitive ending to find the stem & add the endings - is /-is/-it/-issons/-issez/-issent |
|
| Ex: Finir (to finish) | Je finis Tu finis Il/elle/on finit Nous finissons Vous finissez Ils/elles finissent | ||
| Groupe 3 | - RE /-OIR | To conjugate -RE/OIR verbs , remove the infinitive ending to find the stem & add the endings - s/-s /- /-ons/-ez/-ent *For il/elle/on DO NOT ADD ANYTHING |
|
| Ex: Attendre (to wait for) | J'attends Tu attends Il/elle/on attend Nous attendons Vous attendez Ils/elles attendent |