SUMMARY
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Conjugations in English
In English, the form/ ending of a verb changes according to the tense and the subject. The rules of these changes are called “conjugations”.
In English, in the present tense, the form mainly changes with he/she/it, which takes an _(e)s at the end.
to go --> he goes
to eat --> she eats
to rain --> it rains
Sometimes, some verbs change more: think about to be!
In the past tense, the form of the verb changes, too. Sometimes you add "_ed" at the end of the verb and call it a day, sometimes they have an entirely different form (irregular verbs). Verbs like to be, to do or to have even have several forms in the past.
to play --> played
to go --> went
to be --> was, were
Therefore, conjugation gives you information about tense (present, past) and person (I, you, he...).
Conjugations in French
In French, the endings of the verb changes not only for the tense but also for almost every subject pronoun, so conjugations are very important to the language.
For a same verb in the same tense, each pronoun might have its own ending! Therefore, we classify verbs in 4 groups that conjugate in a similar way. Some will be quite regular and always follow the same rules, others will be extremely irregular and each pronoun will have it's own form.
"être" means "to be" and is a very irregular verb.
Je suis
I am
tu es
you are
il est
he is
elle est
she is
iel est
they are
nous sommes
we are
vous êtes
you are
ils sont
they are
elles sont
they are
iels sont
they are
je ne suis pas
I am not
tu n’es pas
you are not
il n’est pas
he is not
elle n’est pas
she isn't
iel n’est pas
they are not
nous ne sommes pas
we are not
vous n’êtes pas
you are not
ils ne sont pas
they are not
elles ne sont pas
they are not
iels ne sont pas
they are not
Je suis professeur de français.
I am a French teacher.
Elles ne sont pas très gentilles….
They are not very kind…
Pronuncition notes:
If you need a review on pronunciation and usage in sentence, this little lesson is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W63MicDMqBQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
final S are not pronounced, neither in the pronoun (nous, vous, ils, elles, iels) nor in the verb (suis, es, sommes, êtes)
final T are not pronounced: est, sont
you usually all pronounced too many things in "est" in il est / elle est / on est ... It's only pronounced as /é/ or /ay/ as in "say"; no S or T sound.
You need to do a "liaison" with vous ! When the pronoun stands alone, you don't say the final S in vous. But since the verb être conjugated with vous is "êtes" and starts with a vowel, you should "connect" the two words with a Z sound:
vous êtes = /voozét/
Here are a few practice ativities
You think you're an expert ? Let's check!
Keep conjugaing ÊTRE until you have it right consistantly
"avoir" means "to have" and is also a very irregular verb.
j’ai
I have
tu as
you have
il a
he has
elle a
she has
iel a
they have
Nous avons
we have
vous avez
you have
ils ont
they have
elles ont
they have
iels ont
they have
je n’ai pas
I don’t have
tu n’as pas
you don’t have
il n’a pas
he doesn’t have
elle n’a pas
she doesn’t have
iel n’a pas
they don’t have
Nous n’avons pas
we don’t have
vous n’avez pas
you don’t have
ils n’ont pas
they don’t have
elles n’ont pas
they don’t have
iels n’ont pas
they don’t have
J’ai beaucoup de frères et sœurs.
I have a lot of brother and sisters.
Nous n’avons pas de classe de français.
We don’t have any French class.
Pronunciation notes:
Don't say final T or S, neither in pronouns or verbs
Do a Z liaison for all the plural, since they all end with an S and the avoir verb starts with an A (vowel): nous avons = /noozavõ/, vous avez = /voozavé/, ils ont = /eelzõ/, elles ont = /élzõ/, iels ont=/iélzõ/
Here are a few practice ativities
You think you're an expert ? Let's check!
Keep conjugaing AVOIR until you have it right consistantly
AVOIR and ÊTRE are used a bit differently than HAVE and BE in English. Often, expressions in French use AVOIR when the English expressions use BE.
J’ai 18 ans.
I am 18 years old.
J’ai beaucoup de chance.
I am very lucky (lit: I have a lot of luck)
Classic expressions using “avoir” instead of "être"
Avoir X ans (to be X years old)
Avoir l’air (to look like)
Avoir besoin DE … (to need …)
Avoir envie DE… (to want…)
Avoir l’intention DE… (to intend to…)
Avoir peur DE .. (to be afraid of…)
Avoir faim (to be hungry)
Avoir soif (to be thirsty)
Avoir de la chance (to be lucky)
Avoir chaud (to be hot)
Avoir froid (to be cold)
Avoir raison (to be right)
Avoir tort (to be wrong)
Practice those expressions here
You can change the study mode in the bottom right corner - use the flashcards to start, and maybe test yourself afterward? The spelling game is interesting too.
_ER verbs are verbs that end in “_er” in their unconjugated form. In French grammar, they are called “les verbes du premier groupe”, the first group verbs. Those verbs are the most regular in their conjugation.
écouter parler regarder jouer
to listen to talk to watch to play
manger voyager travailler étudier
to eat to travel to work to study
To conjugate an _ER verb in the present tense, you have to take out the _er ending and replace it by the new ending, according to the following pattern:
je --> _e
I
tu --> _es
you (single person, non-formal)
il/elle/iel --> _e
he / she / non-gendered they
nous --> _ons
we
vous --> _ez
you (several people OR single person, formal)
ils/elles/iels--> _ent
they (masculin plural)/ they (feminin plural) / they (non-gendered plural)
Therefore, for the verb « jouer » (to play), the conjugation would be as follow:
je joue
I play ; I am playing
tu joues
you play ; you are playing
il/elle/iel joue
he/she/they play ; he/she/they are playing
nous jouons
we play ; we are playing
vous jouez
you guys play ; you guys are playing
you sir/ma'am play ; you sir/ma'am are playing
ils/elles/iels jouent
they play
Grammar note: you ALWAYS need the pronoun (je, tu, nous...) in French; you cannot only have the verb like in Spanish!
Prononciation note: the ONLY endings that are pronounced are
_ons: pronounced '/õ/ (do not say the final S)
_ez: pronounced /é/.
all the other endings are NOT pronounced, even the "_ent" one!
Here are examples of a few sentences with conjugated _er verbs:
J’habite à Cookeville.
I live in Cookeville.
Vous jouez au foot.
You play soccer.
Tu n’aimes pas la pizza.
You don’t like pizza.
Ils voyagent souvent en France.
They often travel to France.
Do you think you remember it all? Let's see if you do! Conjugate the verbs in the present tense below.
You can type only the verb (without the pronoun).
Some _ER verbs conjugate like the others (so, same regular endings) but have a few spelling modifications for pronunciation reasons:
change for nous only
the verbs ending in _cer
the verbs ending in _ger
Change for all but nous and vous
the verbs ending in _yer
the verbs ending in é + consonant + er
the verbs ending in e + consonant + er
Verbs in _cer
Verbs in _cer such as commencer (to begin, to start) take a ç with nous in the present tense.
je commence
nous commençons
Verbs in _ger
Verbs in _ger such as nager (to swim) take an extra e with nous in the present tense.
il nage
nous nageons
Verbs in _yer
Verbs in _yer such as envoyer (to send) replace the y by an i for all but nous and vous.
j'envoie
tu envoies
elle envoie
nous envoyons
vous envoyez
elles envoient
Verbs ending in é + consonant + er
Verbs ending in é + consonant + er such as préférer (to prefer, to like beter, to rather) or célébrer (to celebrate) do the accent danse: the accent changes direction for all but nous and vous.
je préfère
tu préfères
elle préfère
nous préférons
vous préférez
elles préfèrent
Verbs ending in e + consonant + er
Verbs ending in e + consonant + er are a bit more complicated because their behavior depends on the consonant.
If the consonant is a T or a L, such as for the verb appeler (to call) or jeter (to throw, to throw away), the consonnant doubles for all but nous and vous.
j'appelle
tu appelles
elle appelle
nous appelons
vous appelez
elles appellent
If the consonant is anything else, such as for verbs acheter (to buy, to purchase) or amener (to bring with you) take an è for all but nous and vous.
j'achète
tu achètes
elle achète
nous achetons
vous achetez
elles achètent
Let's see if you understood! Conjugate the verbs for as long as you want.