HF2 end of year GRAMMAR:VERBS and TENSES
The infinitive formof a verb is its basic form (= non conjugated form):
In English, the infinitive form of a verb will almost always begin with to followed by the simple form of the verb, like this: to like, to have, to swim, to do …
In French, the infinitive form of a verb is recognized by its ending: - er - ir - reand in each group of verbs, there are Regular and Irregular verbs. ex: aimer, avoir, nager, faire …
The conjugation of a verb varies according to its ending:
Regular -er verbs
Demander (to ask), Déjeuner (to have lunch), Dîner (to dine), Jouer (to play), Parler (to talk), Porter (to wear), Regarder (to watch), Rencontrer (to meet)….
to conjugate in the present tense, you drop the - er ending and replace it by the following endings: Je ______ e nous ______ons
Tu ______ esvous ______ez
Il/elle/on ______ e Ils/elles ______ent
Note:the Irregular – er verbs have spelling changes. Here are some examples:
Manger (to eat) nousmangeons see also: Nager (to swim), Changer, Voyager
Commencer(to begin) nous commençons see also:Avancer, Lancer (to throw)
More to come….
Regular -ir verbs
Accomplir (to accomplish), Applaudir (to applaud), Bâtir (to build), Choisir, Finir, Grandir (to get bigger), Grossir, Maigrir, Obéir, Réussir (to succeed)…
to conjugate in the present tense, you drop the - ir ending and replace it by the following endings: Je ______is nous ______issons
Tu ______is vous ______issez
Il/elle/on ______itIls/elles ______issent
Note: Among the Irregular - ir verbs, there are 3 that you need to remember:
Dormir (to sleep) Partir (to leave) Sortir (to go out)
Je dors nous dormonsJe pars nous partons Je sors nous sortons
Tu dors vous dormezTu pars vous partez Tu sors vous sortez
Il dort Ils dormentIl part Ils partent Il sort Ils sortent
See also: Mentir (tolie), Sentir (to smell), Servir (to serve)
Regular - re verbs
Attendre (to wait for), Défendre (to defend), Entendre (to hear), Perdre (to lose), Rendre (to give back), Répondre (to answer), Vendre (to sell)….
to conjugate in the present tense, you drop the - re ending and replace it as follows: Je ______s nous ______ons
Tu ______s vous ______ez
Il/elle/on ______nothing Ils/elles ______ent
See the attached list of verbs you should know and practice conjugating regularly
Other irregular verbs used very often that you need to know as well:
Avoir (to have)Être (to be)
J’ai nous avons Je suis nous sommes
Tu as vous avez Tu es vousêtes
Il/elle/on a Ils/elles ont Il/elle/on est Ils/elles sont
Aller (to go)Faire (to make, to do, to play)
Je vais nous allons Je fais nous faisons
Tu vas vous allez Tu fais vous faites
Il/elle/on va Ils/elles vont Il/elle/on fait Ils/elles font
Vouloir (to want)Pouvoir (can, to be able to)
Je veuxnous voulons Je peuxnous pouvons
Tu veuxvous voulezTu peuxvous pouvez
Il/elle/on veutIls/elles veulent Il/elle/on peutIls/elles peuvent
Mettre (to put on)Prendre (to take, to have)
Je metsnous mettons Je prends nous prenons
Tu metsvous mettez Tu prends vous prenez
Il/elle/on metIls/elles mettentIl/elle/on prendIls/elles prennent
To writea negative statement or question, use the negation «ne … pas» and hug the verbwith it.
Ex:positive statement = Je joue au football.
negativestatement = Je ne joue pas au football.
To make a question, you know 2 options:
. You can use a positive or negative statement and end it with a? When you do this, you have to rise your intonation at the end of the sentence when saying it.
Ex: Tu fais du sport.Tu fais du sport?
Tu ne fais pas de sport.Tu ne fais pas de sport?
. You canalso use «the question machine»: Est-ce que …………………?
Ex:Est-ce que tu fais du sport?
. A 3rd option is to reverse the subject and the verb. When you write down the question, you need to add an hyphen between the verb and the subject:
Ex:Tu parles français.Parles-tu français?
Vous allez au cinéma.Allez-vous au cinéma?
If the subject starts with a vowel, you need to add a «t» between the verb and the subject:
Ex:Il parle français.Parle –t’il français?
You know how to conjugate a lot of verbs in the present tense and you also learned the IMPERATIVE used when you give orders, commands or tell someone to do something.
. Like in English, you can give an order to 1 person (use the TU form of the conjugated verb in the present tense in French) or to more than 1 person (use the VOUS form of the conjugated verb in French)
. Like in English, when you give an order, you don’t use the subject pronounand the statement ends with a !when you write it.
Ex:Let’s use the expression: Faire du sport (to do/play sports)
1)remember how to conjugate “Faire”: Je fais Nous faisons
Tu fais Vous faites
Il/elle/on fait Ils/elles font
2)use the TU form to give the order to 1 person:
Fais du sport!
or use the VOUS form to give the order to more than 1 person:
Faites du sport!
(Don’t forget to drop the TU and the VOUS and to add a ! at the end of the sentence)
The exception! Drop the “s” at the end of the TU form for the -er verbs.
In chapter 6, you learn the NEAR FUTURE or the equivalent of “going to”:
. For this, you need to know how to conjugate ALLER by heart:
Je vaisNous allons
Tu vasVous allez
Il/elle/on va Ils/elles vont
. To say that you are going to do something in the future, you then use the conjugated form of ALLER and follow it by the infinitive form of the verb you want to use.
Ex:If you want to say that you are going to study (Étudier)
ALLER conjugated + InfinitiveÉtudier = Je vaisétudier.
Ex:If you want to say that your friends and you are going to swim (Nager)
ALLER conjugated + Infinitive Nager = Nous allonsnager.
Ex:If you want to say that your brother is going to go (Aller) to school
ALLER conjugated + Infinitive Aller = Il vaallerà l’école.
. To say that you are not going to do something in the near future, put «ne…pas» around the conjugated form of Aller.
Ex:If you want to say that you are not going to study
NE + ALLER conjugated + PAS + Infinitive Étudier = Je nevaispasétudier.
Ex:If you want to say that your brother is not going to go to school
NE + ALLER conjugated + PAS + Infinitive Aller = Il nevapas aller à l’école.
You also started to learn a past tense called PasséComposéwhich is the equivalent of the English ---ed: Il a dansé = He danced / He has danced
. whenconjugating a verb in Passé Composé, there are 2 parts to the verb:
1)the helping verb AVOIR + 2) the Past Participle of the verb you are using
conjugated in present-er verbs past participle ends with é
-ir verbs past participle ends with i
-re verbs past participle ends with u
Note: there are a lot of irregular past participles, you learned the following ones:
Faire faitPrendre prisVoir vuLire lu
Avoir euÊtre étéMettre mis
Ex:I played / I have played (jouer)= J’aijoué
You had / You have had (avoir)= Tuaseu / Vousavezeu
He finished / He has finished (finir)=Il afini
She put on / She has put on (mettre)=Elle amis
We lost / We have lost (perdre)=Nous avonsperdu
They waited/ They have waited (attendre)= Ils / ellesontattendu
They saw / They have seen (voir)=Ils / ellesontvu
. In a negative sentence in PasséComposé, the negations «ne…pas, ne…rien, ne…jamais” and others hug the helping verb. Ex: Ellesn’ontpas vu.
. In Passé Composé, some verbs use the helping verb ÊTRE instead of AVOIR
The first example you learned is the verb ALLER:je suisallé(e) = I went
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