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.

"avoir" means "to have" and is also a very irregular verb. 

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)

_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

Present tense endings

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)

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!

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

Change for nous only

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

Change for all but nous and vous

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