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Jul 24, 2023 · Most grammar treats defective verbs solely as those verbs where some forms would be fanciful (that is, purely impersonal verbs such as pleuvoir (“to rain”) or grêler (“to hail”)) and verbs for which certain forms do not exist at all anymore, usually because of homonymy ( choir (“archaic: to fall”), homonymous with choyer ).
In some ways, one hesitates to include defective verbs in the present volume since, generally speaking, they are hardly ever used, and even then, only extremely limited parts of them occur. In numerous cases, they are classed as R3, or are already on the point of exiting the language. Parts of some verbs are, of course, standard R2, like déchu.
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French Verb Conjugations. Frire is a defective, irregular -re verb. Though future and conditional forms exist for frire, they are rare. For these as well as for the conjugations that don’t exist, the appropriate conjugation of faire frire may be used instead (when used transitively).
A defective verb is a verb that only partially exists anymore. All tenses or persons are no longer used for these tenses. Here are some examples of defective verbs: gésir: mostly...
There are several defective verbs in French. falloir ("to be necessary"; only the third-person forms with il exist; the present indicative conjugation, il faut, is very commonly used, impersonal verb) braire ("to bray"; only infinitive, present participle, and third-person forms exist)
Jun 28, 2023 · Arrivé (1987), also cited by Boyé & Cabredo Hofherr, lists frire and about a dozen other verbs as defective; according to my informants, all are rare, archaic, or unfamiliar. Consider the case of frire briefly. It has an obvious analogical model: rire ‘to laugh’, which suggests *nous frions ‘we fry’, and so on.
C. Defective Verbs was published in French Verbs Made Simple(r) on page 319.
