[Drapeaux] You too can learn French !
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Created by Jacques LΘon
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Lesson 3 - Pronouns and Verbs
The verb groups
In English, the infinite tense is built by adding " to " in front of the
verb : to say, to see, to eat, etc. In French, the infinite tense is
indicated by appending -er, -ir or -re to the verb. Examples :
-er
parler (to talk) chanter (to sing) manger (to eat) marcher (to walk) aller
(to go) Θcouter (to listen to) laver (to wash) commencer (to begin)
-ir
finir (to end) mourir (to die) courir (to run) sentir (to feel) avoir (to
have) venir (to come) savoir (to know) vouloir (to want)
-re
sourire (to smile) vivre (to live) boire (to drink) entendre (to hear) Ωtre
(to be) conduire (to drive) vendre (to sell)
The verbs ending with -er are referred to as " first group " verbs, the
verbs ending with -ir compose the " second group " and the verbs with the
ending -re form the " third group ". It is useful to distribute the verbs
between these 3 groups because different conjugation rules apply to each
group as we're going to see.
The pronouns
* [headphone]je (I)
* [headphone]tu (you informal form or "tutoiement" in French)
* [headphone]il / [headphone]elle [il/el'] (he/she it does not exist
in French)
* [headphone]nous [nou] (we)
* [headphone]vous [vou] (you when talking to more than one person or
formal form "vouvoiement" in French)
* [headphone]ils / [headphone]elles [il/el'] (they)
Notes
1. in French, there is no neuter pronoun (" it " in English). That means
that things can be either masculine or feminine as we mentioned in the
previous lesson,
2. in English, the 2nd person pronoun is " you " whether in singular or
plurial. Formally, in French, if you talk to one single person, you
use " tu " and if you talk to a group of people, you must use " vous
". In fact, the " tu " form (or " tutoiement " in French) is commonly
used between people of same age, or same social rank. When talking to
a older person or to somebody above you in rank (your boss for
example), you must, most of the time, employ the " vous " form (or "
vouvoiement in French). " tu " marks familiarity while " vous " marks
respect.
3. When the verb starts with a vowel, you must use j' instead of je.
Present tense
In French, there are much more verb tenses than in English. Hopefully, a
large number of them are rarely, or never, used in the spoken language. The
simplest verb tense is the present which is used to describe actions that
occur in the present time. Conjugating verbs in the present tense is very
easy in English because the verb does not change, except for the 3rd
singular person where a " s " is appended. In French, the present tense
conjugation is not so straight forward. The verbs termination varies
according to the person and the verb group and might be altered. Let's
start with the 1st group verbs :
Conjugation of the 1st group verbs
chanter (to sing)
* je chante [shant']
* tu chantes [shant']
* il/elle chante [shant']
* nous chantons [shanton]
* vous chantez [shantΘ]
* ils/elles chantent [shant']
parler (to speak, to talk)
* je parle [parl']
* tu parles [parl']
* il/elle parle [parl']
* nous parlons [parlon]
* vous parlez [parlΘ]
* ils/elles parlent [parl']
Θcouter (to listen to)
* j'Θcoute [Θcout']
* tu Θcoutes [Θcout']
* il/elle Θcoute [Θcout']
* nous Θcoutons [Θcouton]
* vous Θcoutez [ΘcoutΘ]
* ils/elles Θcoutent [Θcout']
You can clearly see the conjugation pattern applying to the the termination
of the 1st group verbs.
* 1st person singular : -e
* 2nd person singular : -es
* 3rd person singular : -e
* 1st person plural : -ons
* 2nd person plural : -ez
* 3rd person plural : -ent
You should be able to conjugate any other 1st group verb. Let's try " aller
" : j'alle, tu alles, etc. Unfortunately, it's wrong ! ! " Aller " is one
of the so many irregular verbs. The conjugation is rather :
* je vais [vΘ]
* tu vas [va]
* il/elle va
* nous allons
* vous allez
* ils/elles vont [von]
Now you can figure out why people are used to saying that the French
language is difficult !
Conjugation of the 2nd group verbs
finir (to finish)
* je finis
* tu finis]
* il/elle finit
* nous finissons
* vous finissez
* ils/elles finissent
venir (to come)
* je viens
* tu viens
* il/elle vient
* nous venons
* vous venez
* ils/elles viennent
vouloir (to want)
* je veux
* tu veux
* il/elle veut
* nous voulons
* vous voulez
* ils/elles veulent
Once again, the conjugation of 2nd group verbs respect some kind of
termination pattern, however, less obvious than in the 1st group. Some of
the 2nd group verbs conjugate like " finir " (termination pattern : -s, -s,
-t, -ssons, -ssez, -ssent) and otherslike " venir " (termination pattern :
-s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent). The case of " vouloir " is special for it is
an irregular verb. There is no means to find out easily which pattern apply
to a given 2nd group verb, excepting learning it by heart.
Conjugation of the 3rd group verbs
boire (to drink)
* je bois
* tu bois
* il/elle boit
* nous buvons
* vous buvez
* ils/elles boivent
vendre (to sell)
* je vends
* tu vends
* il/elle vend
* nous vendons
* vous vendez
* ils/elles vendent
vivre (to live)
* je vis
* tu vis
* il/elle vit
* nous vivons
* vous vivez
* ils/elles vivent
The 3rd group is a real mess since most of the verbs which belong to it are
irregular. Nevertheless, they respect a termination pattern (-s, -s, -t,
-ons, -ez, -ent) but are altered. Once again, no general rule can be drew
up. I hope you have a good memory !
" Ωtre " (to be) and " avoir " (to have)
As in many european languages, " Ωtre " (to be) and " avoir " (to have)
play a special role in French. They are also referred to as auxilliaries.
French language makes use of only two auxiliary verbs (Ωtre and avoir)
while English has many of them (to have, will, would, shall, should, can,
could, must, might, ought to, etc.). On one hand, " Ωtre " and " avoir "
are strongly irregular but in the other hand, they are used very often.
Consequently, their conjugation must be well known. In the present tense
their conjugation are :
Ωtre (to be)
* je suis [sⁿi]
* tu es [Θ]
* il/elle est [Θ]
* nous sommes [some]
* vous Ωtes [Φt']
* ils/elles sont [son]
avoir (to have)
* j'ai [jΦ]
* tu as [a]
* il/elle a
* nous avons
* vous avez
* ils/elles ont [on]
Despite the irregular behaviour of these verbs, the conjugation
terminations respect, more or less, the pattern we previuosly noticed. Note
that this remark is applicable to the verb " aller " as well.
For more information on verbs conjugation, consult the ARTFL project Web
server. It provides a Web conjugator on-line.
Some colours
* bleu (blue)
* rouge (red)
* blanc (white)
* noir (black)
* vert (green)
* jaune (yellow)
* rose (rose)
* orange (orange)
* gris (grey)
* marron/brun (brown)
This third leson is tough but it is worth learning it because verbs are a
major component in sentences. So, don't give up now!
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