[Originally posted on 03/27/14 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by PERCE_NEIGE]
How to conjugate French verbs?
Verbs in French are divised into 3 groups, the first one, the easier, and the most common, called “the first groupe”, is the group with the regular verbs ending with “er”.
Ex: danser, travailler, parler. (dance, work, speak…)
Their conjugation is very easy, the only thing you have to do is to memorize the ending.
PARLER: (to talk) (I) Je parle (you) Tu parles (He) Il parle (or elle parle: she) (We) Nous parlons (You plural) Vous parlez (They) Ils parlent (or elles parlent)
endings: JE = e TU= es IL= e NOUS = ons VOUS = ez ILS = ent (and this ending is always mute)
The verb ending by “ier”, remercier, gracier, etc… are conjugated the same, with teh same endings, they keep their “i”.
REMERCIER (to thanks someone) Je remercie Tu remercies Il remercie Nous remercions Vous remerciez Ils remercient
Manger (to eat, pronouciation: http://fr.forvo.com/word/manger/), this verb is not irregular but has an exception, to the “nous”, you need to put an additionnal “e” to keep being pronounced the same (this verb’s root is pronounced “manj”, like the “g” in “orange”)
MANGER Je mange Tu manges Il mange Nous MANGEONS (and not “mangons”, because it would be pronounced as a hard “g” like in “goat”, and we need a soft g like in “orange”. The “e” is only there to change the pronounciation and keep it alike to the other persons and to its root “manj”) Vous mangez Ils mangent
SECOND GROUP: regular verbs ending with “IR” ex: Finir, mentir, servir, offrir, partir, etc…
PARTIR: (to leave) Je pars Tu pars Il part Nous partons Vous partez Ils partent
Here, I have: JE=s TU=s IL =t NOUS= ons VOUS= ez ILS= ent
FINIR (to finish, same group) Je finis Tu finis Il finit Nous finissons Vous finissez Ils finissent
Same endings…
The 3rd group is the difficult one, it gathers all the other verbs, not ending by “er” or “ir” and the irregular ones with “er” or “ir”.
One of the most common and weird in this group are the three ones: Être (to be) Aller (to go) Avoir (to have), you need to memorize those 3 important verbs, because you can’t guess them.
ÊTRE: (to be) Je suis Tu es Il est Nous sommes Vous êtes Ils sont
AVOIR: (to have) J’ai (and not “je ai”!!, the “je” is modified because of the two vowels following each other, “je ai” would be too difficult to pronounce, “je” is always transformed into ” j’ ” when the verb begin with a vowel, or a non-aspirated “h”.) Tu as Il a Nous avons Vous avez Ils ont
ALLER (to go) Je vais Tu vas Il va Nous allons Vous allez Ils vont.
For other verbs in this group, there are general patterns, depending of their endings. Tenir/Appartenir/Obtenir/Soutenir…etc (all conjugated as “tenir”, tenir is irregular, memorize it.
Tenir: (to hold) Je tiens Tu tiens Il tient Nous tenons Vous tenez Ils tienent
Apprendre/Attendre/Comprendre/Descendre… etc (to learn, to wait, to underscendre, to get off…) and the verb ending with “ondre”: répondre, etc… (to reply) Not irregular, but with conjugate according to the “endre” ending. Only memorize one, and you know them all. Notice that the endind of the 3rd group verbs is the same than for the 2nd group verbs.
PRENDRE: (to take) Je prends Tu prends Il prend Nous prenons Vous prenez Ils prennent
Battre/abattre/débattre/combattre, etc… (to hit, to cut down, to debate, to fight…) They are simple
BATTRE (to hit) Je bats Tu bats Il bat Nous battons Vous battez Ils battent
Boire/Croire etc… (drink, believe…) They are irregular for the plural persons.
BOIRE (to drink) Je bois Tu bois Il boit Nous buvons Vous buvez Ils boivent
CROIRE (To believe) Je crois Tu crois Il croit Nous croyons Vous croyez Ils croient
Naître/Connaître/Paraître/Disparaître, etc… (to born, to know, to seem, to disappear…) They’re simple
NAÎTRE (to born) Je nais Tu nais Il naît (be careful there is a trick here, a ^ on the i) Nous naissons Vous naissez Ils naissent
PARAÎTRE (to seem) Je parais Tu parais Il paraît (same ^ on the i) Nous paraissons Vous paraissez Ils paraissent.
Devoir, falloir, vouloir = are irregular, but not voir, prévoir, recevoir. Vouloir is a very special one, because the ending “s” turned into a “x”
DEVOIR (irregular, to have to) Je dois Tu dois Il doit Nous devons Vous devez Ils doivent
VOIR (regular, to see) Je vois Tu vois Il voit Nous voyons Vous voyez Ils voient.
VOULOIR (to want) Je veux Tu veux Il veut Nous voulons Vous voulez Ils veulent
Verbes with “ire”, or “uire” and the verb “vivre” Ecrire, Lire, Rire, Détruire etc… They are regular.
LIRE (to read) Je lis Tu lis Il lit Nous lisons Vous lisez Ils lisent.
VIVRE (to live) Je vis Tu vis Il vit Nous vivons Vous vivez Ils vivent
DIRE and FAIRE (to say and to do) Dire is regular but has only one exception, “vous”. Je dis Tu dis Il dit Nous disons VOUS DITES (and not disez!!) Ils disent
Dire has the same exception than faire.
FAIRE Je fais Tu fais Il fait Nous faisons Vous FAITES (and not faisez!!!) Ils font
Plaire, complaire, etc.. are conjugated the same than “faire”, but they have not their “vous” irregular, they have a normal “vous”.
Craindre (to fear): crains, etc..
Please, tell me if you have question, if I’m not clear, or if I made some mistakes (because I wrote it very late)
Selected comments on original post
Did it help you? Do you feel comfortable with French verbs now. Please tell me if you try to conjugate verb with an ending I forgot in the list.
The only thing I would add (as an -er exception), because I see these two mistakes all the time in tutoring, “manger” in the nous form retains the ‘e’ – “mangeons,” and for “commencer” the ‘c’ becomes – “commençons”
You may not put it in the irregular basket, but it is an exception that follows a rule. And there are quite a few others besides. The ones mentioned above relate to the group ~er , and the sub rule concerns ~cer and ~ger verbs. I am in the process of writing an article on this, and once it is done, I will try to find this link, and put a cross reference for you here. – For it will include NOT just these instances, but hopefully be much more inclusive of all the other variations. – Wish me luck , and if you pick up this link – please comment. This is part of creating the community and making things relevant 🙂
The third group is the group you put the verbs that can’t be in the first or the second one.
Duolinguists 