Attendre – does not mean “to attend.” Don’t even think it. Also, note that in English you wait “for” someone, but you do not add “pour” to the corresponding French phrase. “J’attends mon ami.”
Entendre = to hear. Écouter = to listen. These are not the same verb!
Prétendre – does not mean to “pretend.” It means to “claim” as in: “He claims that he’ll be on time.” (Which will make “attendre” unnecessary.)
Two weeks ago, we learned how to conjugate ER verbs in the present tense. Last week we learned how to conjugate IR verbs. This week it’s the last of the three main verb groups – RE verbs. RE verbs are the least common of the three regular verb groups, but they’re still important.
Our pattern:
That’s it. Pretty simple, right? The second column is exactly like the second column in our ER verb pattern. Remember?
And the first column is pretty simple too. Just remember – you drop the –re from the il/elle form and you add nothing.
So, let’s take a common example verb:
If you know how to conjugate ER, IR, and RE verbs – you know a lot of the everyday (and a lot of the not-so-everyday) verbs. See? Verb conjugation isn’t so tricky after all.
Obéir à – in French, you do not “obey someone” you “obey to someone” (or something). “J’obéis à la prof mais tu n’obéis pas à la prof.”
Réussir – it is always important to study how a verb is used in context and “réussir” is a perfect example of this. When you pass a test “vous réussissez à un examen.” If you manage to do something “vous réussissez à le faire.” However, for many things, you can use the verb without any extra little words added in. For example:
“She makes good cakes.” – “Elle réussit bien les gateaux.”
“He’s making a success of his life.” – “Il réussit sa vie.”
Last week we looked at conjugating the largest group of regular French verbs in this post about the basics of verb conjugation and -ER verbs. Today we'll take a quick look at conjugating the second most common group of regular verbs -IR verbs.
The pattern for -ir verbs is pretty simple, but the endings are a little longer than they are for -er verbs. It always makes me think a little of the spelling of Mississippi – M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I!
-IR verb pattern, present tense:
So, to conjugate -ir verbs in the present tense, just remove the ending (-ir) from the infinitive and add the appropriate conjugated ending. Let's take a common -ir verb as an example.
Pretty simple, right? And now you know how to conjugate the two biggest groups of French verbs in the present tense! Not bad!
While they follow this rule, regular -ir verbs which already have an "s" in them tend to throw off students. Verbs like "choisir".
Don't drop the 's' from the stem! Even in the second column.
A final word about conjugating regular ER verbs in the present tense.
Remember this post about modal verbs and the boot? ER verbs are not boot verbs, but I often think of them that way because everything inside the boot is pronounced the same way.
Yes, even the ils/elles conjugation. Never pronounce the "-ent" ending in a conjugated verb. The "-ent" might affect how the letters before it are pronounced, but the "-ent" itself is never pronounced.
Je parle Nous parlons
Tu parles Vous parlez
Elle parle Ils parlent
Yes, that's right. "Parle", "parles", and "parlent" are all pronounced exactly the same way. Fight the urge to say "parl-ant." You can beat this – I know you can.
That said, not every "-ent" is silent. Only the "-ent" ending of a conjugated verb. If the "ent" is part of the stem (or "radical") of the verb, or if you find "-ent" at the end of a word that is not a verb – it's fair game. Go ahead and pronounce that sucker. (For example: un accident, un élément, un tempérament.)
And I'm sorry, but just like in the Lord of the Rings, there are no Entwives here. Only -ents.
I’ve talked a lot about patterns this week, and guess what? I’m not done. Take a look at these groups of English words:
Do you see any patterns? Look again. “C” and “g” – how are they pronounced and why are they pronounced that way?
Now look at these English words:
What is the difference between this group and the first group? Come up with a rule and write it down. Seriously – don’t look online, don’t ask someone else, don’t scroll to the rest of the post until you have a rule.
…
…
…
Now I’ve got some clumps of French words for you. How do you think each of these sets of words is pronounced?
This is a rare instance where French and English have the same rule. (Of course, there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, but it’s helpful nonetheless.)
Last chance! If you don’t have your own rule – come up with it now! The answer follows…
* * *
When ‘c’ or ‘g’ are followed by ‘a’, ‘o’, or ‘u’ they are hard. When they are followed by “e” or “i" they are soft.
* * *
Okay, now remember how we conjugate –ER verbs? What will happen when we conjugate "manger" – "to eat"? If we follow the rules for ER verbs without making any changes then the "nous" form will be "mangons". According to our new pronunciation rules, how will this word be pronounced? Does that sound good?
Nope.
This is fixed by simply adding an "e". "Nous mangeons."
Je mange Nous mangeons
Tu manges Vous mangez
Il mange Elles mangent
Any regular –er verb with a 'g' at the end of the stem will follow this rule in the present tense (e.g.: nager = to swim, nous nageons.)
Commencer (to start) has the same problem, but it is not solved by adding an 'e'. Instead of adding an 'e', simply add une cedille. You've seen them plenty of times (ça, français).
Je commence Nous commençons
Tu commences Vous commencez
Il commence Ils commencent
Every regular -er verb with a stem that ends in "c" will work this way in the present tense (e.g. placer = to place, nous plaçons.)
What did I tell you? It's all about the patterns.
(Frustrated when you need to type a letter with an accent? To type a c with une cedille in Word, just hold down the Ctrl key while you hit the ' , ' key and then type ' c '. It will appear with the accent. Voilà !)
Some common, regular -ER verbs:
Aimer – confusingly, this verb does mean both “to like” and “to love”. Though it usually seems counter-intuitive to us Anglophones, adding the modifier “bien” after the verb actually makes it weaker. So if you want to say you like someone or something and you’re afraid that you’ll be misunderstood, remember:
“Je l’aime bien.” (“I like him/her/it.”)
According to Le Petit Robert
Aimer 1. Éprouver de l’affection, de l’amitié, de la tendresse, de la sympathie pour (qqn). (chérir.) 2. Éprouver de l’amour, de la passion pour (qqn). (adorer, idolâtrer.)
Arriver – this is a great little verb and I think you two should be friends, because this little verb will help you sound more “French.”
- “Where are you? You were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago!”
- “I’m coming!”
- “Can you help me? I can’t reach the cereal on the top shelf.”
- “I’m coming!”
We say it every day, in so many everyday situations and the French do too. The only difference is, they don’t use the verb “venir” (“to come”) they use “arriver.” So, the next time someone calls you to tell you you’re late and demand to know where you are, remember:
- “J’arrive !”
(You’ll hear French speakers make the same mistake in reverse and declare “I arrive!” Sounds odd, right? Yup, and that’s how your “je viens” sounds to them.)
Chanter – such a lovely verb, but if you “make” someone do it, you’re blackmailing them. That’s right: “faire chanter” = “to blackmail.” Not sure about the verb “faire” ? It’s irregular, but it’s coming in a future post – il arrive !
Chercher – did you notice the definition? Read it again. Do you see the “for” there? Well, I meant it. So, you “cherchez vos clés” when you are late for work in the morning, you do NOT “cherchez pour vos clés.” No, no, no.
Demander – we’ve already been through this, right? You never “demander pour qqc” in French. However, this verb can get a little tricky, so look it up in a dictionary or at www.wordreference.com (remember this post?) if you’re not sure about how to use it in a specific context.
Écouter – “j’écoute la prof.” I never “écoute à la prof.”
Jouer – this verb has a few set rules depending on how you use it. If you play a sport you “jouer à” the sport. If you play a musical instrument, you “jouer de” the musical instrument.
« Je joue au foot. »
« Je ne joue pas au basket. »
« Je joue du piano. »
Visiter – always, always, always for visiting a place. “Je visite Paris.” Never ever for visiting a person. If you want to visit a person, you’re going to need an –RE verb: “rendre visite à.”
Voyager vs. travailler – tricky little verbs, don’t get them confused!
This piece is the right shape, but the wrong design. This piece is the right design, but the wrong shape. This piece should fit, but it doesn’t and that piece shouldn’t, but apparently it does. I’ve always loved jigsaw puzzles – the more challenging the better. In fact I’m crazy enough to think of 2,000 pieces as the minimum size for a puzzle.
All of this really has nothing to do with verb conjugation, except that sometimes I think of conjugating verbs like working a puzzle. First you take your infinitive (part of the picture on the puzzle box) and then you take the stem (one puzzle piece) and finally you find the right ending (another puzzle piece), put them together and you have your verb – part of your sentence (your completed puzzle). A little sad maybe, but anything that makes verb conjugation less painful is a good thing.
Lost? Okay, we’re going back to the basics:
I cake.
You cakes.
We with each other.
Does something seem to be missing from those “sentences”? How’s this:
I love cake.
You bake cakes.
We belong with each other.
Aww… but maybe that was:
I love cake.
You hate cakes.
We fight with each other.
Huh.
Lesson #1: Verbs are important!
Okay, and then there’s:
I loves cake.
You baking cakes.
We to belong together.
Lesson #2: How you form the verb matters!
Lesson #2 is a perfect example of what happens when you don’t know how to conjugate a verb. Verb conjugation is simply the act of forming the verb correctly based on the subject (who’s doing the action) and the format of the rest of the sentence. It’s tempting for students of a foreign language to think that as long as they know the verb and what it means, that’s enough, but really, do you want to walk around in French saying “you baking cakes” when you mean “you bake cakes”?
I didn’t think so. So, you start with your infinitive (the unconjugated verb). For example:
parler to talk
Take the stem (the beginning) of the verb and separate it from the ending. How do you know where to break the verb? Some of it will just come down to memorization and comfort with the language, but there are five core categories of verbs in French and they are defined largely by their endings.
-ER verbs 
-IR verbs
-RE verbs
-Stem changing verbs
-Irregular verbs
- ER verbs are by far the most common regular French verbs and they all end with, you guessed it, -ER. So, in our example, “parl-” would be your stem and “-er” would be your ending.
- IR verbs are the second most common regular French verbs and, shockingly, they all end with –IR. (Finir – stem = fin, ending = ir.)
- RE verbs… I think you know where I’m going with this. (Rendre – stem = rend, ending = re.)
- Stem changing verbs – usually it is the ending that changes and the stem that stays the same, but some verbs are just a little trickier and to conjugate them you have to change both the stem and the ending. These verbs are particularly difficult for beginners because only the infinitive shows up in the dictionary. So if you stumble across an unfamiliar stem-changing verb and want to look it up… it might be a little tricky. (Essayer – “j’essaie” and “nous essayons.”
- Irregular verbs – A lovely category meaning “everything else.” Okay, so technically it means all the verbs that don’t follow one easily memorized pattern. Irregular verbs have to be memorized individually or in small groups.
Then you choose your subject or subject pronoun. In French the subject pronouns are:
(The brackets show subjects that share the same conjugation. You’ll notice that when I’m writing out the full conjugation of a verb, I often write only “il” or “elle” and “ils” or “elles”. The rule still applies to the missing pronouns; I just leave them out for simplicity.)
So, now you have your verb stem (parl) and your subject pronoun – now you, um…, conjugate the verb. You take the stem and you add the appropriate ending, depending on what your subject is.
It might help if you had some rules, so we’re just going to dive into the ER verbs in the present tense. There is one pattern, one rule, for conjugating all regular –ER verbs and remember, once you know it, you know how to conjugate the largest group of French verbs! Here goes:
Simple, right? Every single regular ER verb follows that pattern. Our example was “parler” and here’s how it looks conjugated in the present tense:
Okay, now it’s your turn. Try with the verb “aimer” “to love”. Answers below, (highlight to see them – but don’t cheat! Try it yourself first!)
J’aime Nous aimons
Tu aimes Vous aimez
Elle aime Ils aiment
Congratulations! You’re on your way to being a verb-conjugating fiend!
If you’ve spent any time studying French in a formal setting, you’ve worked on verb conjugation drills. They’re not fun, but verb conjugation is incredibly important and one way to learn it is to drill it.
Hopefully, your teacher and your textbook always arrange your verbs like this:
| Je parle | Nous parlons |
| Tu parles | Vous parlez |
| Il parle | Ils parlent |
Teachers do this because writing them out in one straight list takes up too much room on the page.
No.
There’s actually a very good reason to write out verbs like this, and if this is not how you study your verbs – you should start. There is a logical pattern to this two-column layout and whether you know it or not, your brain likes logic. Take a moment to look back and see if you can figure out the pattern.
Did you look back? Because you are much more likely to learn, understand, and remember if you try to figure it out yourself before you’re just given the answer. Seriously, take all the time you want – the answer isn’t going anywhere. When you think you see at least one pattern – look at the answer below the following chart. (Here’s a clue for you – there’s one rule for each column and one for each row.)
The rows are all about the “grammatical person”. If we were talking about literature, we would call this the “narrative mode”. Row one is the “first person”. Row two is the “second person”. Row three is the “third person”.
In row one, the speaker is talking about himself or herself:
-“I am colorless and green.”
-“We got stuck on top of the Eiffel Tower.”
In row two, the speaker is addressing someone else:
-“You sleep furiously.”
-“Y’all say funny things.”
In row three, the speaker is talking about someone else:
-“She is colorless and green!”
-“They eat snails.”
Aside from just being kind of cool, this layout makes one common recurring pattern in French conjugation very clear – the Boot. There are a lot of verbs in French and there are several tenses and moods – you do not want to have to memorize them all. This is why patterns are so important. It is way better to learn one consistent pattern than 50 separate verb conjugations.
When a verb is what we call a “boot verb” it follows one pattern for the “je”, “tu”, “il/elle”, and “ils/elles” conjugations and a different pattern for the “nous” and “vous” conjugations. So you will have two patterns – one inside the boot and one outside. The pattern outside the boot usually closely resembles the infinitve. “Vouloir” is an excellent example of a boot verb:
If you struggle with verb conjugation, books like the ubiquitous 501 French Verbs
Novel French Learning 