Understanding French Verb Forms
Understanding French Verb Forms
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Verbs in the English language can easily be conjugated because the verb maintains the same form in most tenses while it would only require the addition of a single letter, such as the letter ‘s' when the tense or subject changes. In contrast, French verbs often have to be conjugated almost every single time that the verb tense changes. In order to understand how French verbs are conjugated, it would be best to first learn about the different categories that French verbs fall under. These categories include:
1. Regular -ER verbs - these are the French words that end in -er, such as accompagner (to accompany), danser (to dance), and so on. These verbs are the French counterparts of English verbs that are in the infinitive form. These are conjugated in 6 different ways depending on the pronoun to which it would be attached. The following shows the list of how the infinitive French verb accompagner is conjugated according to each French pronoun:
2. Regular -IR verbs - these verbs are words that end in -ir and are also the French counterparts of infinitive English verbs that require the use of the word ‘to' preceeding the verb. Conjugation also depends on the pronoun attached to the verb. Take for instance the verb bâtir (to build):
3. Regular -RE verbs - these verbs end in -re and are also of the infinitive form. Conjugation still depends on the pronoun attached to the verb. Take as an example the word défendre (to defend):
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Verbs in the English language can easily be conjugated because the verb maintains the same form in most tenses while it would only require the addition of a single letter, such as the letter ‘s' when the tense or subject changes. In contrast, French verbs often have to be conjugated almost every single time that the verb tense changes. In order to understand how French verbs are conjugated, it would be best to first learn about the different categories that French verbs fall under. These categories include:
1. Regular -ER verbs - these are the French words that end in -er, such as accompagner (to accompany), danser (to dance), and so on. These verbs are the French counterparts of English verbs that are in the infinitive form. These are conjugated in 6 different ways depending on the pronoun to which it would be attached. The following shows the list of how the infinitive French verb accompagner is conjugated according to each French pronoun:
| Pronoun | Rules for conjugation | Ending word |
| Je | Simply remove the last letter | Accompagne |
| Tu | Replace the -r with the letter -s | Accompagnes |
| Il | Same conjugation as with the pronoun Je | Accompagne |
| Nous | Replace -er with -ons | Accompagnons |
| Vous | Replace -r with -z | Accompagnez |
| Ils | Replace -r with -nt | Accompagnent |
2. Regular -IR verbs - these verbs are words that end in -ir and are also the French counterparts of infinitive English verbs that require the use of the word ‘to' preceeding the verb. Conjugation also depends on the pronoun attached to the verb. Take for instance the verb bâtir (to build):
| Pronoun | Rules for conjugation | Ending word |
| Je | Replace -r with -s | Bâtis |
| Tu | Same rule as with the pronoun je | Bâtis |
| Il | Replace -r with -t | Bâtit |
| Nous | Replace -r with -ssons | Bâtissons |
| Vous | Replace -r with -ssez | Bâtissez |
| Ils | Replace -r with -ssent | Bâtissent |
3. Regular -RE verbs - these verbs end in -re and are also of the infinitive form. Conjugation still depends on the pronoun attached to the verb. Take as an example the word défendre (to defend):
| Pronoun | Rules for conjugation | Ending word |
| Je | Replace the -re with -s | Défends |
| Tu | Same rule as with the pronoun je | Défends |
| Il | Remove the -re completely | Défend |
| Nous | Replace the -re with -ons | Défendons |
| Vous | Replace the -re with -ez | Défendez |
| Ils | Replace the -re with -ent | Défendent |