FR201
Fiche 1: Verb Conjugation
In 2nd-year French, you must be able to conjugate verbs and verb groups without difficulty.
Learning conjugations requires understanding the patterns of verb endings, both written and
spoken. Since you are learning French as an adult learner, you must learn them differently than
you did learning your native language, when you acquired them through constant use: you must
actively memorize and practice to reinforce your knowledge.
A knowledge of conjugation begins with the present tense. It is the foundation on which you
will build much of your grammatical knowledge of verbs in 2nd-year. If the foundation is solid,
then, and only then, will your subsequent efforts pay off. Ultimately, a command of present and
past tense will make your learning of the other French verb forms taught in 2nd-year successful.
Verb groups. Verbs are usually categorized by their conjugation patterns. To conjugate
accurately, it is essential to learn the pattern for the verbs in a group, and to know which verbs
belong to the group. Even unfamiliar verbs are easy to conjugate if you know which group they
belong to: it is simply a matter of applying the pattern.
Regular and irregular. The basic categories of regular and irregular verbs are already familiar to
you. Regular verbs are large groups of verbs (such as -er verbs) that share a similar conjugation
pattern and are easily recognizable by their infinitive endings. Irregular verbs are unique verbs
or small groups of verbs whose conjugation patterns differ from the most frequent patterns of
regular verbs. Their conjugations are often idiosyncratic.
There are two important things to know about irregular verbs:
•Many verbs, although irregular, do share a pattern with other verbs, with which they form a
small group;
•The infinitive of some irregular verbs may appear regular because the ending (-ir or
-dre) is the same as those regular groups. When the infinitive ending is deceptive, you
must memorize which of the verbs are irregular.
Example: aller, although it ends in -er, is not conjugated like the regular verb parler.
General patterns for written forms. It is useful to keep in mind these two general patterns.
•The tu-form of all present tense verbs ends in -s (including -es or -ds), except vouloir and
pouvoir (whose ending is -x)
•The singular endings follow the same pattern for all verbs except -er verbs: -s | -s | -t or -d.
(exceptions: aller [il va], avoir [j'ai, il a], and pouvoir/vouloir, as noted above)
je / j'
tu
elle/il/on
suis
fais
finis
attends
es
fais
finis
attends
est
fait
finit
attend
FR201, Fiche 1:
Worksheet: conjugation patterns
Each of the verbs on this sheet, regular and irregular, is a model for a group of verbs. Memorize the
pattern, and you know how to conjugate any verb in the group.
Task: For each verb, write the conjugations in the table. Write the pronoun (e.g., je) with each form.
If you have any doubt, verify the conjugations in appendix V of your text. Note the similarities and
differences between the conjugation patterns of the verbs in each set. Memorize these patterns.
VERBS IN -IR
partir1
finir (reg.)
venir2
ouvrir3
je / j'
tu
elle / il / on
nous
vous
ils / elles
1
There are six main verbs that follow this pattern: partir, sortir, mentir, sentir, dormir, servir. Any verb that has one of these verbs as a
base is conjugated in the same way: repartir, démentir, ressentir, s'endormir, etc.
2
Verbs conjugated like venir: tenir. Any verb built on either verb follows the pattern of the base verb: devenir, prévenir, revenir,
souvenir, obtenir, soutenir, etc.
3
Verbs conjugated like ouvrir: couvrir, découvrir, recouvrir, offrir, souffrir. (Note that although they end in -ir, these verbs use the -er
verb endings.)
VERBS IN -DRE
attendre (reg.)
prendre1
je / j'
tu
elle / il / on
nous
vous
ils / elles
1
Verbs conjugated like prendre: any verb that has prendre as the base: apprendre, comprendre, reprendre,
etc.
vouloir
pouvoir
VERBS IN -OIR
voir1
savoir
je
tu
elle / il / on
nous
vous
ils / elles
1
2
Verbs conjugated like voir: revoir, prévoir
Verbs conjugated like devoir: all verbs that end in -evoir: recevoir, décevoir, percevoir, apercevoir
devoir2