FLC: Lesson 3 - Pronouns and Verbs You too can learn French !
Created by Jacques Léon
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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) écouter (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) être (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
je (I)
tu (you informal form or "tutoiement" in French)
il / elle [il/el'] (he/she it does not exist in French)
nous [nou] (we)
vous [vou] (you when talking to more than one person or formal form
"vouvoiement" in French)
ils / elles [il/el'] (they)
Notes
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,
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.
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 [shanté]
ils/elles chantent [shant']
parler (to speak, to talk)
je parle [parl']
tu parles [parl']
il/elle parle [parl']
nous parlons [parlon]
vous parlez [parlé]
ils/elles parlent [parl']
écouter (to listen to)
j'écoute [écout']
tu écoutes [écout']
il/elle écoute [écout']
nous écoutons [écouton]
vous écoutez [écouté]
ils/elles écoutent [écout']
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 [vé]
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 !
" être " (to be) and " avoir " (to have)
As in many european languages, " être " (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 (être and avoir) while English
has many of them (to have, will, would, shall, should, can, could, must, might,
ought to, etc.). On one hand, " être " 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 :
être (to be)
je suis [süi]
tu es [é]
il/elle est [é]
nous sommes [some]
vous êtes [èt']
ils/elles sont [son]
avoir (to have)
j'ai [jè]
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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