If there is something difficult to learn in languages โโand very hated by students, it is conjugate verbs in French. Luckily, in the native language of France, the fundamental principles of conjugation are identical to those we use in Spanish, by this we mean that the verbs are modified according to the subject that performs them and the tense (past, present or future) in which they happen.
The French language has 16 verb tenses in its entirety and of these, 5 are the most frequently used and which comprise most of the scenarios. Today we are going to give you 4 ways / steps so you can easily conjugate French verbs.
Form No. 1: Compression of the conjugation
Shaping the verbs
Remember that the conjugation is the same as "shaping" a verb according to the subjects you are referring to, this also happens in Spanish, as an example: we can say "they jump" but obviously we would change the verb to "jump" if the person or rather, the subject who performs it is โyouโ. If we go to French, the conjugation is similar: each subject (we, them, you) has a different conjugation.
Remember the pronouns
It is VERY important to conjugate French verbs that remember which are the pronouns that are used in this language, which has an additional pronoun to Spanish.
- I = heh.
- He, she, it = il, elle, on.
- You = you.
- We = Nous.
- They, They = ils, they.
- You or you = vous.
Keep in mind the different infinitives used in verbs
If a verb is missing its corresponding conjugation, it is known as an โinfinitiveโ. In the Spanish language, the different verbal actions in infinitives end in ar, ir, and er (for example walk, run, etc.). In the French language, infinitives consist of verbs like aller (to go) or respondre (to respond). The infinitive makes the verb base and is what is modified when we give it the desired conjugation.
Identify the so-called regular verbs (there are three in total)
Most of the verbs in French can be divided into 3 types according to the ending of the infinitive that corresponds to them. Each type includes several conjugation rules and you need to know them in order to conjugate French verbs.
-Verbs that end in โgoโ: for verbs like โapplaudirโ (clap) and โfinirโ (finish).
-Verbs that end in โreโ: includes verbs like โunderstandโ (listen).
-Verbs that end in โerโ: for verbs like โmangerโ (to eat) or โparlerโ (to speak).
Study irregular verbs
As in any language, and French is not the exception, there are verbs that stopped using the same conjugation rules as the others, in these exceptions, most of the verb tenses are different, so for irregular verbs it is usually searched for punctually the conjugations.
We will show you a list where you can find some frequently used irregular verbs.
- Being = รtre:
- Want = Vouloir
- Do = Faire
- Go = Aller
- Have = Avoir
- Put, place = Mettre
Form Nยบ 2: Conjugate French verbs in the past simple = passรฉ composรฉ
Use the past simple for verbs that have ended in the past
The passรฉ composรฉ or past simple is used for verbs in which their beginning and ending are well established, for example โI threw a pencilโ or โthey have run a lotโ. For verbs that occur regularly in the past tense, such as the weather, another verb tense is used. The past simple or passรฉ composรฉ is the most common past tense in the French language.
Conjugate the verb โavoirโ in the present
In order to start conjugating verbs in French from the simple past, it should be noted that the latter forms a compound tense, that is, it is made up of two parts. The first part is formed from the conjugation of the verb to have (avoir), which will fulfill the same function as the verb "to have" in the Spanish language, for example "I have ironed" or "He has tied". Let's remind you of the conjugation of the verb โavoirโ:
- Have = Avoir = elles ont, tu as, j'ai, vous avez, il a, nous avons.
Find the past participle of the actions
If we analyze the sentence "I have run", you will see that "run" does not resemble any conjugation of the action "run", this also occurs in the French language, the participles of the actions in the past tense have ways of ending different, and the best thing is that they are not difficult to remember:
- Verbs that end in โerโ: โeโ For example: montrรฉ
- Verbs that end in "go": "i" Example: rรฉussi
- Verbs ending in "re": "u" For example. I understood
Past = Join the two parts
What you must do now is join the conjugation of the verb โavoirโ with the past participle and as a result we will have the verb tense in the past. If we are talking about equivalences, the equivalent of the conjugation in Spanish that we saw in the previous point would be "I have run" or "They have shot", although it can also be translated as "I ran" or "They shot". Examples:
- First person: "ai + verb" I spoke = J'ai parlรฉ
- Second person "as + verb" You finished = You so fini
- Third person "a + verb" He heard = Il a compreu.
- First person plural "avons + verb" We were successful = Nous avons rรฉussi
- Second person plural "avez + verb" You tried = You tried
- Third person plural "ont + verb" They responded = They ont rรฉpondu.
Verbs that use being instead of avoir
Almost all actions in French use a formula (avoir + past participle), although in order to make the conjugation of some actions in the past simple we must use: รชtre (to be) + past participle, in the same way its translation will be as actions in tense past (for example: I fell). The verbs mentioned are:
- rester, become, descendre, come, return, monter, depart, arriver, tomber, sortir, aller, naรฎtre, entrer, rentrer, retourner, mourir.
These verbs are known as intransitive verbs.
Use ยซรชtreยป instead of ยซavoirยป
We must do this to conjugate verbs in French that we mentioned in the previous step. Once we study which verbs should be conjugated with ยซbeingยป(โ To be โ) we must join them to the past participle to give them their conjugation in the past tense, a detail to keep in mind is that the participle must be in coordination with the person who performs the action. For plural subjects an "s" is added to the participle and for female persons the letter "e" is added:
- First person (suis + verb) Yo caรญ = (In the mentioned case the person is female) Je suis tombee
- Second person (es + verb) You fell = You are tombรฉ
- Third person (est + verb) He fell = He fell
- First person plural (sommes + verb) We fell = Our sommes tombรฉs
- Second person plural (รชtes + verb) You fell = You are tombรฉs
- Third person plural (sont + verb) They fell = They are tombรฉes
Form No. 3: Conjugation of the present
Present = Habituality / Present
You must use the present when the verb is used in a habitual or current way. Luckily, in French the present is used very similar to Spanish, this verb tense is used to translate sentences such as "He fells the tree." In the different verbs, there are 3 basic categories and some irregular verbs (actions that do not use the general rules). The basic categories of verbs are:
- Verbs ending in "go"
- Verbs that end in "re"
- Verbs that end in "er"
Conjugate those that end in "er"
We must conjugate verbs in French that end in โerโ, replacing that ending with another; each of the different pronouns (she, we, I, etc.) has a different ending for which the ending โerโ must be replaced. The endings are: e, e, es, ons, ez, ent. As an example we will use the verb "parler" (to speak):
- First person "e" I speak = Je parle
- Second person "is" You speak = You speak
- Third person "e" He speaks = Il parle
- First person plural "ons" We speak = Nous parlons
- Second person plural "ez" You speak = Vous parlez
- Third person plural "ent" They speak = Elles parlent
Conjugate French verbs that end in "go"
Replace these verbs with another ending, this is done by changing it according to the pronoun:
Issons, issent, is, it. Let's use the conjugation of clap (โapplaudโ) as an example for this occasion:
- First person "is" I applaud -> J'applaudis.
- Second person "is" You applaud -> Tu applaud
- Third person "it" He claps -> I applaud
- First person plural "issons" We applaud ->Our applaudisons
- Second person plural "issez" You clap -> You applauded
- Third person plural "issent" They clap -> Ils applaudissent,
Conjugate verbs ending in re
In this case we will also replace that ending with another, we must emphasize that these are less frequent regular verbs, but it is important that you know how to conjugate them the same. The endings to change will be: nothing, ons, ez, ent, s and s. The conjugation of the third person, that is to say she or he, has no conjugation. As an example we will take the verb to respond (rรฉpondre):
- First person "s" I answer -> Je answer
- Second person "s" You answer -> Your replies
- Third person "nothing" He responds -> Il rรฉpond
- First person plural "ons" We respond -> Nous repldons
- Second person plural "ez" You respond -> You reply
- Third person plural "ent" They respond -> They respond
Study conjugate frequent irregular verbs
You may know that irregular verbs are quite a lot, but we regret to tell you that it is necessary to know how to conjugate them, below we will give you just a few examples, the rest you can search for by putting โverb + conjugation in Frenchโ in Google.
- Have = avoir = Nous avons, J'ai, vous avez, il a, elles ont, tu as
- Ir = Aller = you go, il goes, vous allez, elles vont, nous allons, je vais
Form Nยบ 4: Conjugation of verbs in the imperfect past tense
Verbs performed over a period of time
Importantly, the past imperfect is used for verbs that occur over a period of time. In Spanish this topic is similar, the named tense is used for verbs that happened in the past tense but not at a certain moment (Ex: โI played basketball when I was 15 years oldโ or โThey asked for pizza every dayโ , in these examples you may be pointing to some of all the times when they ordered pizza or played basketball)
This verb tense should be used for example for frequent actions or verbs, age, climatic time, states of being, filler data or the different feelings.
The simple past tense is used for circumstances that occur in a story (โI swept the streetโ) and the imperfect past tense is used for the fill data (โI was 15 years oldโ, โIt was cloudyโ)
Find the root of the actions by suppressing the "ons"
Esto applies to French verbs that are conjugated in the first person plural and present tenseTo find the root, you have to delete the ending "ons", it also works for irregular verbs. If you want to start conjugating French verbs in the past imperfect, delete the โonsโ from the conjugation of the person and the tense said at the beginning. This can also be applied or governed in the Spanish language, for example the root of the verb andar is "and" (ando, andas, andamos, anduviste). Examples:
- Fiare = faisons = fais
- finir = finissons = finniss
- Avoir = avons = av
There is a exception to the rule that we mention and is the verb ยซรtreยป, its conjugation in the first person plural does not end in โonsโ (ยซwe areยซ). The root of this action is "รฉt".
Unify the endings of the imperfect past tense to the root
We will do this to obtain the conjugation in French, unlike the passรฉ composรฉ or past simple, the past imperfect is constituted in a word. So what we have to do is unify the endings at the root. As an example we will conjugate the verb to irrigate (to look):
- First person (ais) I looked = I was looking
- Second person (ais) You looked = You will water
- Third person (ait) He looked = Il irrdait.
- First person plural (ions) We looked = Nous regards
- Second person plural (iez) You looked = You regardiez
- Third person plural (aient) They looked = Elles irrdaient
So far our tutorial on how to conjugate verbs in French has come, we hope it has served you, although no one said that it is an easy language, it is a matter of studying it and putting it into practice. Good luck with it!
Note: If reading everything is tedious for you, we leave you some videos so that you can learn to conjugate verbs in the French language easier, especially to learn the French pronunciation:
Conjugate regular verbs in ER
