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Aug 22, 2020 · A complete section on grammar of the verb geared to speakers of English; 93 tables with explanations to help solve the intricacies of French conjugation; a compact and handy bilingual dictionary featuring 12,000 entries culled from various various regions of the French-speaking world
frenchlanguagebasics.com · french-verbs-andFrench verbs and conjugation (PDF) - Frenchlanguagebasics
Our approach to teaching French verbs and conjugation is comprehensive and thorough. We cover the different tenses and moods, as well as some common irregular verbs that can pose a challenge to learners.
- Contents
- What Is French Verb conjugation?
- Three French Verb Types
- Present Tense French Conjugation
- Past French Conjugation
- Future French Conjugation
- The French Conditional
- French Imperative and Subjunctive Moods
- More French Conjugation Resources
Conjugation means to change a verb in a way that reflects different meanings—either in terms of its subject, tense or mood. The usual way of conjugating verbs in French is toremove the ending of the infinitive formand add a new ending. The endings are determined by: 1. Who is performing the action 2. Which tense and mood you are using The pattern f...
In their infinitive form, French verbs fall into three categories based on their endings: Group one: Verbs ending in -er Group two: Verbs ending in-ir Group three: All other verbs (verbs that don’t end in -er or -ir, irregular verbs, and verbs which actually do end in -ir but have a present participle that doesn’t end in-issant) Each of these verb ...
First, let’s focus on the present tense. Just like in English, the French present tense is used todescribe actions that are currently happening, actions that happen repeatedly or general truths. In the present tense, each French verb has two parts: a pronoun, and a conjugated verb. The French pronouns are as follows: 1. Je — I 2. Tu — You (informal...
Passé Composé Tense
The passé composé is one of three French past tenses. It’s used for events that happened completely in the past, with a defined start and end date, and events that began in the past but continue into the present. To conjugate in the passé composé, we use this formula: pronoun + auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the present tense + past participle Note that when using avoir (to have) and être (to be) in the past tense as auxiliary verbs, they do not mean “to have” and “to be.” Think of them as...
Imparfait Tense
The imparfait is used to express events that happened continuously in the past. For example, you would use this tense to talk about something that you habitually did during your childhood but that you no longer do. Some learners may find this conjugation easier because it doesn’t involve any auxiliary verbs! The -re verb prendre conjugated in the imparfait looks like this: These endings are the same for -re, -er and -irregular verbs.
Plus-que-parfait Tense
Finally, the plus-que-parfait describes events that happened completely in the past, that happened before other events in the past. Think of the sentence: “I had fallen asleepbefore she arrived.” Because both events (the falling asleep and the arriving) happened in the past, but the falling asleep happened first, you would conjugate this verb using the plus-que-parfait. Get ready, because we’re about to combine the previous two tenses you just learned to create something beautiful: To conjuga...
Futur Simple Tense
We’re heading into the future! The futur simple allows you to express actions that will happen in the future with almost definite certainty. With -er and -irverbs, you just add the endings to the infinitive form of the verb. With -re (third group) verbs, the process is almost the same, but we have to delete the -eat the end of the verb. For example:
Futur Antérieur Tense
The second way to talk about the future is by using the futur antérieur. This tense is used to describe future events that happen before other future events, such as with the sentence: “by the time you arrive, I will have cleanedthe house.” You’re well-prepared for this tense because the conjugation is similar to the passé composé and plus-que-parfait. The only difference is that you’ll conjugate your auxiliary verb, avoir or être, in the futur simple tense. Take the following two examples:
Future Tense with Aller
You know how in English you can say, “I will do my homework,” but you can also say “I am going to do my homework”? Well, French has a similar construction. You can talk about future events using the formula: pronoun + present-tense form of aller + action verb in infinitive As an example, let’s use the verb jouer (to play).
Present Conditional Tense
The present conditional tenseis used to express what “would” or “could” happen. It uses the same formula as the futur simple: add the proper endings directly onto the infinitive for -er and -irverbs. Likewise, for -re verbs, we take off the -eand add the endings.
Past Conditional Tense
Use the past conditional tenseto talk about something that might have happened in the past, but didn’t. It’s like the English construction “would have.” We’re going to apply the same concept as in the futur antérieur, except that instead of using the futur simple form of the auxiliary verb, we’ll use the conditional formas follows:
French conjugation isn’t just about tense—it’s also about mood. So far we’ve been working with the indicative mood, used for expressing statements of fact or objectivity. But there are two other important moods in French: 1. Imperative mood: used to express orders and commands 2. Subjunctive mood: used in situations where there is doubt or uncertai...
This may seem like a lot of information to digest, but soon, it’ll all feel like second-nature. Just think of all the French learners who have mastered this before you! As you learn, I recommend making use of one of the many great online conjugatorsavailable for free, as well as fantastic resources for practicing what you’ve just learned. WordRefer...
Verbs ending in -er are the most common and easiest ones to conjugate, also called verbs of the 1st group. They represent around 80% of French verbs, including a few irregular verbs described in the following pages.
- Quizlet. After years of studying French in high school and college classrooms, I graduated and wanted to continue studying on my own. Quizlet was the first resource my mother, a French teacher of 20 years, recommended to me for French conjugation exercises.
- Français interactif. Français Interactif (Interactive French) is the University of Texas at Austin’s French program. I love the setup of the program’s verb practice page because it’s simple but effective.
- Conjuguemos. While Conjuguemos’s setup is a little different than other sites in this post, it’s just as easy to figure out. The site’s conjugations are split into five main categories
- schoLINGUA. This website has a different method of organization than the others. Instead of choosing one tense and being given multiple verbs to conjugate, you choose only one verb which you then have to conjugate into multiple tenses.
Learn the 200 most common verbs in French with this free PDF guide from Talk in French.
Trusted free online French Conjugations from Collins. Authoritative, reliable and up-to-date content for English word reference, with images, example sentences, audio and video pronunciations, and related thesaurus.
