French Conjugation - Weebly

The Present Tense Before you continue learning about the present tense, make sure you know the basics of verbs and are aware of the French subject pronouns.

The present tense is used to express an action which is currently taking place or takes place regularly. In English, we can express this in three ways: I play I am playing I do play

In French, the present tense can only be expressed in one way: Je joue

To form the present tense, remove the infinitive ending (er, ir or re) and add the appropriate ending:

er -e -es -e -ons -ez -ent

je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles

ir -is -is -it -issons -issez -issent

NB Do not pronounce the ent at the end of any verb, no matter what the tense.

re -s -s -ons -ez -ent

So let’s construct the phrase I am eating a sandwich. A sandwich is un sandwich and to eat is manger. 1. Choose the pronoun 2. Choose the verb 3. Remove the infinitive ending from the verb 4. Add the ending which corresponds to the pronoun

je manger manger mange

5. Put it all together



Je mange un sandwich

Some Irregular Conjugations As you already know, not all verbs follow the regular patterns and instead have their own conjugations. Listing all of the irregular verbs would be impossible so instead I have given the conjugations for the five most commonly used irregular verbs.

aller – to go je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles

faire – to do/make vais vas va allons allez vont

je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles

être – to be je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles

fais fais fait faisons faites font

pouvoir – to be able suis es est sommes êtes sont

je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles

avoir – to have je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles

‘ai as a avons avez ont

peux peux peut pouvons pouvez peuvent

Devoirs Try to write the following sentences in French. The infinitive verbs have been given to you:     

I am playing I work I am tall I have three brothers I like cakes

jouer travailler être (irreg) avoir (irreg) aimer

Summary    

Verbs express actions or existence An infinitive is a verb in its simplest form English infinitives are preceded by the word to There are three types of French infinitive: er, ir and re.