French Lessons Basic conjugation is Chapter 1 from this free French Lessons for Business online course – plus you can listen along if you click through here and grab the full length audiobook available for ALL the lessons.
This chapter is useful for understanding basic conjugation enjoy.
Basic conjugation of French Verbs
This is a quick overview. French verbs are conventionally divided into 3 conjugations, « conjugaisons » with the following grouping:
Conjugating First group Verbs in French
You’ve got all the verbs ending in « -ER ». It’s about 60% of them, except « aller » which belongs to the third.
Conjugation Lesson Second group Verbs in French
You’ve got all the ending in « -IR » with the gerund ending in « -issant ». It’s about 30% of all French verbs.
Conjugating Third group Verbs in French
You’ve got all the rest. So, the first section is all the verbs ending in « IR » but with gerund ending in « -ant » And the second section comprises the verbs ending with all the other endings like « OIR », « -RE » It’s about 10% of all French verbs.
Like in English, there are regular and irregular verbs. The regular ones are easy to conjugate because you’re just using the standard endings, depending on which group the verb belongs to. And then you’ve got the irregular verbs, which tend to be the most frequently used. They use the same endings but twist them slightly.
For example, in English a regular is “to accept”: accept, accepted, accepted.
An irregular verb would be “to blow”: blow, blew, blown.
In French a regular verb, a typical one is « MANGER »: “to eat”. It ends in « -ER » in the first group.
An irregular verb would be « AVOIR »: “to have”, « ALLER »: “to go”, « FAIRE »: “to do”/“to make”, and « ETRE »: “to be”.
With verbs, you must master the conjugations of the 6 persons in the present tense.
After that, you can very easily master the future, past and passé composé.
So here is an ultra-fast summary of some of the conjugation examples from each of the 3 groups.
First group
MARCHER (TO WALK): present
Je marche: I walk
Tu marches: You walk
Il/Elle marche: He/She walks
Nous marchons: We walk
Vous marchez: You walk
Ils/Elles marchent: They walk
Second group
FINIR (TO END/TO FINISH): present
Je finis: I finish
Tu finis: You finish
Il/Elle finit: He/She finishes
Nous finissons: We finish
Vous finissez: You finish
Ils/Elles finissent: They finish
Conjugating Third group Verbs in French
DIRE (TO SAY): present
Je dis: I say
Tu dis: You say
Il/Elle dit: He/She says
Nous disons: We say
Vous dites: You say
Ils/Elles disent: They say
Watch out! « Vous dites » is highly irregular.
3 Most Important Verbs
Now let’s conjugate very irregular but very important verbs.
AVOIR (TO HAVE)
ETRE (TO BE)
ALLER (TO GO)
AVOIR (TO HAVE)
J’ai: I have
Tu as: You have
Il/Elle a: He/She has
Nous avons: We have
Vous avez: You have
Ils/Elles ont: They have
Conjugating The Verb ETRE
Now for ETRE (TO BE)
Je suis: I am
Tu es: You are
Il/Elle est: He/She is
Nous sommes: We are
Vous êtes: You are
Ils/Elles sont: They are
Now ALLER (TO GO)
Je vais: I go
Tu vas: You go
Il/Elle va: He/She goes
Nous allons: We go
Vous allez: You go
Ils/Elles vont: They go
It’s very important that you learn at least those three verbs by heart, the irregular ones and the regular ones with their endings, in the present tense.
Next we will refresh you on some very important sentence starters that you can use in any environment for any purpose. French Lessons Basic conjugation
As a result, this is a hyper massive chatpter! Thank you for sticking with it and persisting all the way through – its the best way to succeed. Please have a listen to the main full audiobook HERE as you work on each lesson. And check out this one HERE