French conjugation
Conjugation is the variation in the endings of verbs depending on the person, tense and mood. Most French verbs are regular and their inflections can be entirely determined by their infinitive form.
French verbs are conventionally divided into three groups. The first two are the -er and -ir conjugations. Verbs of the first two groups follow the same patterns, largely without exception. The third group displays more variation in form.
The third group is a closed class, meaning that no new verbs of this group are created. Most new verbs are of the first group, with some in the second group.
In summary the groups are:
- 1st conjugation: verbs ending in -er. There are about 6000 verbs in this group.
- 2nd conjugation: verbs ending in -ir, with the present participle ending in -issant. There are about 300 verbs in this group.
- 3rd group: All other verbs: verbs with infinitives in -re, -oir, -ir with the present participle ending in -ant, the verb aller.
Verb forms
indicative,
subjunctive,
conditional and
imperative.
Tense formation can be either simple, or compound.
The finite forms are:
- Indicative
- *Present which is simple
- *Present perfect : literally "compound past", formed with an auxiliary verb in the present
- *Imperfect, simple
- *Pluperfect : literally "more than perfect", formed with an auxiliary verb in the imperfect
- *Simple past Conventionally used only in written language or in extremely formal speech.
- *Past perfect : formed with an auxiliary verb in the past simple. It is somewhat rare.
- *Simple future
- *Future perfect : formed with an auxiliary verb in the future simple
- Subjunctive
- *Present, simple
- *Past : formed with an auxiliary verb in the subjunctive present
- *Imperfect, simple. Somewhat rare.
- *Pluperfect: formed with an auxiliary verb in the subjunctive imperfect. Somewhat rare.
- Imperative
- *Present, simple
- *Past: formed with an auxiliary verb in the present imperative. Very rarely used in contemporary French.
- Conditional
- *Present
- *Past : formed with an auxiliary verb in the present conditional
- *Past : formed with an auxiliary verb in the imperfect subjunctive. Rarely used.
- Past participle
- Present participle
- Gerundive:
Auxiliary verbs
There are two auxiliary verbs in French: avoir and être, used to conjugate compound tenses according to these rules:- Transitive verbs in the active voice are conjugated with the verb avoir.
- Intransitive verbs are conjugated with either avoir or être.
- Reflexive verbs are conjugated with être.
- être is used to form the passive voice. In the passive, it is sometimes necessary to combine conjugated forms of être with avoir as an additional auxiliary verb, e.g. Il a été mangé.
- il a marché, elle a marché, nous avons marché
- il est tombé, elle est tombée, nous sommes tombés, elles sont tombées
- Il a acheté une voiture. Voilà la voiture qu'il a achetée.
First group verbs (''-er'' verbs)
French verbs ending in -er, which constitute the largest class, inflect somewhat differently from other verbs. The endings in the present simple singular are written -e, -es and -e, while in the other two groups the endings are more usually -s, -s and -t respectively. This variation is purely orthographic, as these endings are not pronounced in speech. Additional orthographic variations are also implemented to reflect pronunciation; see below for spelling rules.The first group is demonstrated below with parler.
Present participle: parl-ant
Past participle: parl-é
Auxiliary verb: avoir
Spelling rules:
- In -cer verbs, the c becomes a ç before endings that start with a or o, to indicate that it is still pronounced /s/ ; similarly, in -ger verbs, the g becomes ge before such endings, to indicate that it is pronounced /ʒ/.
- In -oyer and -uyer verbs, the y becomes an i before endings that start with a silent e ; in -ayer verbs, this change is optional; both je paye and je paie are accepted as standard. Additionally, the future and conditional forms of envoyer start with enverr- rather than envoyer-; and similarly with renvoyer.
- In -é.er verbs, the é becomes an è before silent endings, and optionally in the future and conditional tenses.
- In -e.er verbs other than most -eler and -eter verbs, the e becomes an è before endings that start with a silent e. For example: peler -> je pèle / je pèlerai / je pèlerais.
- In most -eler and -eter verbs, e is changed to an è before endings that start with a silent e, and l or t are changed to ll or tt. In the rest of these verbs, only one or the other form is considered standard. For example: appeler -> j'appelle / j'appellerai / j'appellerais.
- The verbal adjective of following verbs is irregular: adhérer - adhérent; coïncider - coïncident; confluer - confluent; affluer - affluent; converger - convergent; déterger - détergent; différer - différent; exceller - excellent; diverger - divergent; négliger - négligent; précéder - précédent; violer - violent; influer - influent; communiquer - communicant; suffoquer - suffocant; provoquer - provocant; naviguer - navigant; déléguer - délégant; fatiguer - fatigant; intriguer - intrigant.
- When the first-person singular present tense form of the indicative or subjunctive is found in inversion, authorities require that the final e is changed to either é or è, in order to link the two words : Parlè-je ?,, "Am I speaking?". However, this construction is very rare.
- When the second-person singular form of the imperative is followed by its object y or en, a final s is added: Parles-en !,, "Talk about it!"
- envoyer is an irregular in the future and conditional stem - j'enverrai etc., j'enverrais etc. Similarly: renvoyer "resend"
- aller, though it ends in -er, belongs to the third group.
Second group verbs (''-ir'' verbs / present participle ending in -issant)
- The vowel of the inflections is always -i-, for example -isse in the past subjunctive rather than the -asse of the -er verbs.
- A few of the singular inflections themselves change, though this is purely orthographic and does not affect the pronunciation: in the present simple and past simple, these are -s, -s, -t rather than -Ø, -s, -Ø.
- In the present simple, imperfect, the present subjunctive, and the present participle, a suffix -iss- appears between the root and the inflectional endings. In the present simple singular, this suffix has disappeared and the endings are -is, -is, -it.
Past participle: chois-i
Auxiliary verb: avoir
Third group verbs
Verbs of the third group have infinitive endings -- 1st section: -ir, with the present participle ending in -ant
- 2nd section: -oir
- 3rd section: -re
- aller is included in the third group.
The first source of variation in irregular verbs is stem changes. Stem changes can occur in six places. It is possible to say that the verbs have
seven principal parts, the first being the infinitive itself. No verb has separate stems for all seven parts; instead, rather they tend to "inherit"
the same stem as another part.
| Principal part | How to get the stem | "Inherited" value of stem | Key |
| infinitive | Remove ending -er, -ir, -oir, -re | — | INF |
| First singular present indicative | Remove ending -s, -e | Infinitive stem | 1S |
| First plural present indicative | Remove ending -ons | Infinitive stem | 1P |
| Third plural present indicative | Remove ending -ent | First plural present stem | 3P |
| future | Remove ending -ai | Full infinitive, minus any -e | FUT |
| past participle | Full word | Infinitive stem, plus -u for -re ending else plus -i | PP |
| past simple | Remove ending -s, -ai | Past participle, minus any -s or -t | PAST |
The following table shows a conjugation scheme that allows for stem changes. As presented, the table accommodates not only third group verbs but also second group verbs, both having basically the same endings.
A regular second group verb would appear with a stem change in the 1P position and would require a little attention to the 1S stem. The verb choisir is included to represent regular second verbs and haïr is listed as an irregular second group verb. First group verbs would
have different endings in some cases but no stem change.
1 A [|spelling rule] applies here.
2 +t if ends with vowel, else +s.
Present participle: 1P-ant
Past participle: PP
Spelling rules
- In the indicative present third person singular the -t is regularly dropped when directly following a d or t.
Stems that are irregular in the sense of being unpredictable by the above rules are given in boldface.
Occasionally endings depart from the norm. This is the second source of irregularity.
Such cases are listed in the table following, again with the irregular occurrences highlighted in bold.
* See following table for exceptions.
1 Only in Quebec French.
3 Alternation of "-ai-" and -oi- before consonant or unstressed e, "-ay-" and -oy- before other vowels is automatic in all verbs.
6 The stem is inferred though the usual rule does not apply.
7 Read G2 as a sub-heading meaning that the following two entries are in group 2. G3 indicates that all following entries are in group 3.
| vêtir | Indicative present sg. | je vêts, tu vêts, il vêt2 |
| venir | Past simple pl. | nous vînmes, vous vîntes, ils vinrent |
| ouvrir | Indicative present sg. | j' ouvre, tu ouvres, il ouvre |
| cueillir | Indicative present sg. | je cueille, tu cueilles, il cueille |
| asseoir | Indicative present sg. | j'assieds, tu assieds, il assied2 |
| vendre | Indicative present sg. | je vends, tu vends, il vend2 |
| battre | Indicative present sg. | je bats, tu bats, il bat2 |
| vaincre | Indicative present sg. | je vaincs, tu vaincs, il vainc |
| prendre | Indicative present sg. | je prends, tu prends, il prend2 |
| mettre | Indicative present sg. | je mets, tu mets, il met2 |
| plaire | Indicative present sg. | je plais, tu plais, il plaît |
| connaître | Indicative present sg. | je connais, tu connais, il connaît |
| naître | Indicative present sg. | je nais, tu nais, il naît |
| coudre | Indicative present sg. | je couds, tu couds, il coud2 |
| moudre | Indicative present sg. | je mouds, tu mouds, il moud2 |
| clore | Indicative present sg. | je clos, tu clos, il clôt |
| absoudre | Past participle | absous, absoute |
2 Case of -t being dropped when directly following a d or t.
4 See following table for similar verbs.
5 See following table for notes.
| choisir | Note: Choisir is a regular 2nd group verb |
| haïr | Note: Haïr is 2nd group verb with the exception that in Sing. pres. indic. the diaeresis drops out |
| partir | Note: Sing. pres. indic. stem drops last consonant of basic stem: je pars, dors, mens, sors, sens, sers Similarly conjugated verbs: se départir "divest", repartir "leave again", dormir "sleep", s'endormir "fall asleep", se rendormir "fall back asleep", mentir "lie ", démentir "contradict", sentir "feel", consentir "agree", pressentir "foresee", ressentir "feel", servir "serve", desservir "clear away", resservir "serve again", sortir "go out", ressortir "come back" |
| vêtir | Note: The same as partir, except for the past participle Similar: dévêtir "undress", revêtir "cover" |
| venir | Similar: revenir "return", devenir "become", se souvenir "remember", parvenir "reach", prévenir "tell beforehand"; tenir "hold", retenir "memorize", contretenir "talk", soutenir "sustain", maintenir "maintain", appartenir "belong", etc. |
| ouvrir | Note: Sing. pres. indic. uses endings -e -es -e, as with -er verbs Similar: couvrir "cover", découvrir "discover", offrir "offer", souffrir "suffer" |
| cueillir | Note: Like ouvrir except the future; sing. pres. indic. uses endings -e -es -e, as with -er verbs |
| asseoir | Asseoir has two possible conjugations |
| voir | Similar: revoir "see again", prévoir "foresee" |
| recevoir | Similar: Other verbs in -cevoir, e.g. apercevoir "perceive", concevoir "conceive", décevoir "disappoint" |
| devoir | Note: Very similar to recevoir, but adds a circumflex to du - due, dus and dues remain unchanged |
| mouvoir | Adds a circumflex to mu - mue, mus and mues remain unchanged |
| émouvoir | Similar: promouvoir "promote" |
| choir | Missing the indicative imperfect and the subjunctive mood Similar: échoir "befall" |
| pleuvoir | Impersonal |
| vendre | So-called "regular -re" verbs; all end in -dre, but not -indre Similar: attendre "wait", défendre "defend", descendre "go down", entendre "hear", étendre "extend", fondre "melt", pendre "hang", perdre "lose", prétendre "pretend", rendre "return, give back", répandre "spill", répondre "respond", etc. |
| battre | Close to vendre |
| rompre | Very close to vendre |
| vaincre | Essentially same as vendre, except for c/qu variation Similar: convaincre "convince" |
| craindre | Similar: All verbs in -aindre, -eindre, -oindre, e.g. contraindre "compel", plaindre "complain"; atteindre "reach", ceindre "gird", empreindre "stamp", éteindre "turn off", étreindre "hug", feindre "pretend", geindre "whine", peindre "paint", restreindre "restrict", teindre "dye"; joindre "join", oindre "anoint", poindre "dawn", rejoindre "rejoin" |
| conduire | Similar: All verbs in -uire e.g. construire "build", cuire "cook", détruire "destroy", instruire "instruct", réduire "reduce", produire "produce", traduire "translate", etc. |
| traire | PS is conjugated as in 1st group verbs. Similar: contraire "contract", extraire "extract", soustraire "subtract", retraire "withdraw" |
| prendre | Similar: comprendre "understand", apprendre "study", reprendre "take again", etc. |
| mettre | Similar: promettre "promise", permettre "permit", compromettre "compromise, damage", soumettre "submit, subdue", transmettre "transmit" |
| écrire | Similar: décrire "describe", inscrire "inscribe" |
| suffire | Similar: confire "pickle", circoncire "circumcise", frire "fry" |
| plaire | Similar: déplaire "displease" |
| bruire | Rare outside of third person, conjugated like choisir |
| maudire | Very close to bruire |
| rire | Similar: sourire "smile" |
| conclure | Similar: Other verbs in -clure |
| vivre | Similar: revivre "come alive again", survivre "survive" |
| suivre | Similar: poursuivre "pursue" |
| connaître | Similar: reconnaître "recognize", paraître "seem", apparaître "appear", reparaître "reappear", disparaître "disappear" |
| naître | Note the 3rd sg. naît |
| absoudre | The same as résoudre, except for the past participle. Note the masculine absous and feminine absoute |
| clore | Missing the subjunctive and indicative imperfect, as well as the past simple tense. Note the 3rd sg. clôt |