Verbs in French

Verbs in French

Q3/ Semaine 8 de 2024

Verbs in French

There are two major types of verbs in FRENCH:

REGULAR

and

IRREGULAR

*Verbs start as an INFINITIVE , meaning “Unconjugated” or meaning TO + ACTIVITY in
English.

*They must come out of their INFINITIVE form, or change spellings or be “conjugated” to
make sense - because we can’t go around saying things like “I to sing, they to see, she to
study, we to have, she to be, e to have, etc...”

REGULAR VERBS

These are the EASY ones! Regular verbs follow a predictable (and memorizable!) pattern.

“ER” verbs like CHANTER, PARLER, REGARDER, JOUER, AIME all follow the same pattern, so
you only have to know the pattern that you apply the ALL of them

*REGULAR VERBS have three predictable patterns within them:
ER

IR

RE

The ER, IR, and RE endings are the “TO” in the action

EXAMPLES:

PARLER - TO SPEAK

CHOISIR: TO CHOOSE

VENDRE: TO SELL

REGULAR VERBS: EXAMPLES OF “ER” verbs

ENDINGS OF ALL ER VERBS:

Je

E

nous ONS

Tu

ES

vous EZ

Il

E

ils

ENT

Elle E

elles ENT

On

E

Je chante

je regarde

j’aime

Tu chantes

tu regardes tu aimes

Il chante

il chantes

il aime

Nous chantons

nous regardons

nous aimons

Vous chantez

vous regardez

vous aimez

Ils chantent

ils regardent

ils aiment

REGULAR VERBS: Examples of “IR” verbs

IR verbs are verbs whose
INFINITIVES end in IR

●CHOISIR: TO CHOOSE

●FINIR: TO FINISH

You have to drop the IR of the
INFINITIVE (so that it no longer
means “TO” and add the endings on
the right:

Je

IS

nous ISSONS

Tu

IS

vous ISSEZ

Il

IT

ils

ISSENT

Elle

IT

elles ISSENT

On

IT

** that ENT IS SILENT!

REGULAR VERBS: Examples of “IR” verbs

Je

IS

nous ISSONS

Tu

IS

vous ISSEZ

Il

IT

ils

ISSENT

Elle

IT

elles ISSENT

On

IT

** that ENT IS SILENT!

Je choisis

je finis

Tu choisis

tu finis

Il choisit

il choisit

Nous choisissons

nous finissons

Vous choisissez

vous finissez

Ils choisissent

ils finissent

DON’T FORGET: THE ENT IS SILENT!

REGULAR VERBS: Examples of “RE” verbs

IR verbs are verbs whose
INFINITIVES end in RE

●VENDRE: TO SELL

●REPRENDRE: TO RESPOND

You have to drop the REof the
INFINITIVE (so that it no longer
means “TO” and add the endings on
the right:

Je

s

nous ONS

Tu

s

vous EZ

Il

NO ENDING

ils

ENT

Elle

NO ENDING

elles ENT

On

IT

** that ENT IS SILENT!

REGULAR VERBS: examples of RE verbs

Je

s

nous ONS

Tu

s

vous EZ

Il

NO ENDING

ils

ENT

Elle

NO ENDING

elles ENT

On

IT

** that ENT IS SILENT!

Je vends

je réponds

Tu vends

tu réponds

Il vend

il répond

Nous vendons

nous répondons

Vous vendez

vous répondez

Ils vendent

ils répondent

IRREGULAR VERBS

Others HAVE THEIR OWN PATTERNS that are unique to them and are difficult to memorize but are
usually VERY HIGH FREQUENCY (meaning “used a lot!”)

●ÊTRE: TO BE

●AVOIR: TO HAVE

●ALLER: TO GO

●PRENDRE: TO HAVE FOOD or DRINK, TO TAKE

●VOIR: TO SEE

●APPRENDRE: TO LEARN

●COMPRENDRE: TO UNDERSTAND

●FAIRE: TO DO, TO MAKE

●DORMIR: TO SLEEP

●VOULOIR: TO WANT

●POURVOIR: TO BE ABLE

IRREGULAR VERBS

Within the IRREGULAR VERBS, some verbs share patterns with a few other
irregular verbs or have similar, predictable patterns:

HERE ARE A FEW YOU KNOW OR WILL KNOW

●APPRENDRE: TO LEARN

●COMPRENDRE: TO UNDERSTAND

●DORMIR: TO SLEEP

●VOULOIR: TO WANT

●POURVOIR: TO BE ABLE