Welcome back to the engaging and insightful Learn French with LearnningTree series. Today, we are continuing with the French verbs and conjugation 📚🇫🇷
Contents
Regular -ER verbs
Most verbs in French are formed according to predictable rules. There are three types of these regular verbs, each with different endings. In order of frequency, these types are:
-er verbs
-ir verbs
-re verbs
Yes! If you learn how to form one single verb of one group you will automatically know how to form hundreds of verbs of the same group.
We'll begin with the first group, the -er verbs, it is the majority of the French verbs. Let's focus on the first person singular (I), the second person singular (you) and the formal form (you).
Regular -er Verbs present indicative
parler | habiter | |
je, j' | parle | habite |
tu | parles | habites |
vous | parlez | habitez |
In French, the contraction "j'" is used before words that begin with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or a silent "h," making it easier to pronounce. For example, "je parle" (I speak) becomes "j'habite" (I live) when followed by a word starting with a vowel or silent "h."
When it comes to addressing people, the difference between tu and vous is important. Tu is informal and used with close friends, family, or people of the same age. Vous, on the other hand, is the formal version and should be used with strangers, in professional settings, or when showing respect. Even if you know someone, vous is still the safer option unless you're invited to use tu. If you're unsure, it's best to default to vous to avoid being perceived as impolite, as it shows respect and maintains a level of formality.
In grammar terms, we call this process of forming verbs conjugation. If you analyze the verb form parle, you can see that it is conjugated in the first person.
To summarize our introduction with "technical" words, we could say: today we learnt all about the conjugation of -er verbs in the first (je) and second (tu) person singular and the second person plural (vous).
We saw three conjugations (je, tu, vous) for regular -er verbs earlier. Now let's look at the rest:
parler | habiter | |
il, elle, on | parle | habite |
nous | parlons | habitons |
elles/ils | parlent | habitent |
These forms are for when you want to speak about other people, like he/she/it and they. Nous is we in English.
A note on the pronunciation of ils parlent:
This conjugation is a bit odd in that it is pronounced exactly like il parle. Normally, the spelling 'ent' would be pronounced as a nasal vowel, but in the 3rd person plural, it's silent.
Living in - How to use "habiter à / en / au / aux"
Prepositions in any language often seem arbitrary and often cannot be translated one-to-one.
To talk about where you live in English, you use one simple preposition: in.
| Belgium |
| Madrid |
I live in | Austria |
| Southern Italy |
| Madrid |
In French, the situation is more involved. You don't need to learn how to use these prepositions right now (we'll get to that soon enough). We just want you to notice them for now.
J'habite | en | France. (feminine country) |
J'habite | au | Canada. (masculine country) |
J'habite | aux | États-Unis. (plural country) |
J'habite | à | Madrid. (city) |
All of these prepositions would be translated into English as in. However, when you want to say in in French, you'll need to pay attention to context to get it right!
In French, countries are classified as either masculine, feminine, or plural, and the gender typically depends on the ending of the country's name.
A country is usually feminine if its name ends in an "e," such as Italie (Italy) or Espagne (Spain).
Countries ending in "s," like Pays-Bas (Netherlands) or Philippines (Philippines), are considered plural.
For all other countries, the default is masculine.
For example, Canada and Japon (Japan) are masculine.
This distinction affects the articles used with country names: le for masculine countries, la for feminine ones, and les for plural countries. Knowing these general rules helps in using the correct article and adjective agreement when talking about countries in French.
My hobbies - How to use the verbs "aimer" and "préférer"
Imagine three school friends having the following conversation:
Max : J'aime le tennis.
Carlos : Moi, je préfère le yoga.
Charles : Moi, je déteste le sport, mais j'adore la trompette.
Max likes playing Tennis, Carlos prefers doing yoga and Charles hates all kinds of sports, she loves playing the trumpet.
détester (--) → aimer (+) → préférer (++) → adorer (+++)
In French, these verbs express varying degrees of liking or preference:
Détester means "to hate" or "to strongly dislike" (--)
Aimer means "to like" or "to love" (+)
Préférer means "to prefer" (++)
Adorer means "to adore" or "to love intensely" (+++)
And here's the good news: all four verbs follow the -ER conjugation that you have seen with the verbs habiter or s'appeler.
Only the verb préférer changes a little bit when conjugated:
je préfère
tu préfères
il/elle/on préfère
nous préférons
vous préférez
ils préfèrent
To go - How to use the verb "aller"
Lundi, je vais au travail.
Monday, I go to work.
Le mardi soir nous allons à la piscine.
On Tuesday evenings, we go to the pool.
Wondering how come "go" looks soooo different in those two sentences?
Let's have a look at the table below:
| ALLER |
je | vais |
tu | vas |
il/elle/on | va |
nous | allons |
vous | allez |
ils/elles | vont |
nous and vous are the only one similar to ALLER ! 😭😭
In French, places also have gender, just like countries, and this affects how you express where you're going.
For example, when talking about going to a place, the article used changes based on the gender of the noun.
For masculine places, you use au (a contraction of à le), such as in je vais au travail (I go to work).
For feminine places, you use à la, as in nous allons à la piscine (we go to the pool).
If the place is plural, you use aux, as in nous allons aux États-Unis (we go to the United States).
The gender of the place affects the preposition used with verbs like aller (to go), so it's important to know whether the place is masculine, feminine, or plural to use the correct article.
Je vais à la maison.
I am going home.
Je vais à l'hôpital.
I am going to the hospital.
Je vais au restaurant.
I am going to the restaurant.
Je vais aux toilettes.
I am going to the bathroom.
To do - How to use the verb "faire"
FAIRE | |
je | fais |
tu | fais |
il/elle/on | fait |
nous | faisons |
vous | faites |
ils/elles | font |
FAIRE ⇒ to do
BUT...
faire de la natation ⇒ Literally: "to do swimming" and not "to go swimming".
"faire" is always followed by "de" -> faire de...
Je fais de la danse.
I am doing dance.
Je fais de l'escalade.
I am doing rock-climbing.
Je fais du yoga.
I am doing yoga.
Je fais des claquettes.
I am doing tap-dancing.
To play - How to use the verb "jouer"
Tu aimes faire du sport/de la natation/... ?
Do you like sports/swimming/...?
Ou tu préfères jouer au volley ?
Or do you prefer playing volleyball?
Why do we sometimes use du/de la and sometimes au? And what's up with the verbs?
to play a game | → | jouer au basket (m) |
to play an instrument | → | jouer du piano (m) |
to do sports with no games | → | faire du yoga (m) |
Summing up
1. We use jouer + , à l', à la, au (à + le), aux (à + les) when we talk about playing a game (team sports, sport games, table games, computer games,...)
2. We use jouer + de l', de la, du (de + le), des (de + les) when we play an instrument.
3. For sports like cycling, swimming, yoga or pilates, we use the verb faire + de l', de la, du, des.
Don't worry too much though, French people also mix up things and say: "je fais du tennis" or "je fais de la guitare" even though they're supposed to use "jouer" in both cases!
To need - How to use "avoir besoin de"
In French, the verb avoir (to have) is often used in expressions to indicate necessity. For example, when you want to say "I need" in French, you use the phrase avoir besoin de (to need).
The conjugation of avoir is irregular, but it’s straightforward once you learn it: j'ai (I have), tu as (you have), il/elle/on a (he/she/it has), nous avons (we have), vous avez (you have), and ils/elles ont (they have).
To express "I need" in French, you combine j'ai (I have) with besoin de (need), resulting in j'ai besoin de.
For example, to say "I need water," you say j'ai besoin d'eau (since "eau" starts with a vowel, the "de" becomes "d'").
Similarly, to say "I need coffee," you would say j'ai besoin de café. This structure is essential for talking about needs in French, and while it may seem long at first, it becomes familiar with practice.
j'ai besoin d'eau | nous avons besoin de riz |
tu as besoin de confiture | vous avez besoin d'huile |
elle/il/on a besoin de pain | ils/elles ont besoin d'ananas |
To say that you don't need something in French, you need to use the negation ne... pas around the verb. The structure for negation in French typically involves placing ne before the verb and pas after it. When forming the negation with avoir besoin de (to need), the rule still applies: you place ne before the conjugated form of avoir and pas after it.
For example, to say "I don't need something," you would say Je n'ai pas besoin de.... Note that when the verb begins with a vowel sound, the ne drops the "e" and becomes just n' to make the phrase easier to pronounce.
So, Je n'ai pas besoin de... is the correct structure for saying "I don’t need" in French. This follows the standard negation rule, even in longer expressions like avoir besoin de.
Reflexive verbs
French has a really fun way of expressing that something is done to oneself (like se laver or s'acheter quelque chose). For example, it would be said like this in English:
I wash myself.
You buy yourself something nice.
And you will see that this type of construction (reflexive verbs) is much more common in French than it is in English. In fact, you've already seen a reflexive verb rather early on: Je m'appelle (s'appeler) meaning "my name is" (literally I call myself).
Je me couche très tard.
I go to bed very late.
(literally: I bring myself to bed very late.)
Les enfants se brossent les dents.
The children brush their teeth.
(literally: The children brush themselves their teeth.)
Elle s’habille professionnellement.
She dresses professionally.
(literally: She dresses herself professionally.)
Nous nous levons de bonne heure.
We get up early.
(literally: We get ourselves up early.)
Se laver :
| reflexive pronoun | laver (regular -er) |
je | me, m' | lave |
tu | te, t' | laves |
il, elle, on | se, s' | lave |
nous | nous | lavons |
vous | vous | lavez |
ils/elles | se, s' | lavent |
The majority of these verbs have to do with one’s body, clothing, or relationships.
The technical term for this kind of construction is reflexive, because it reflects back on the subject, i.e in the first example I wash myself the reflexive pronoun myself reflects the subject I.
Reflexive verbs: the negative form
We've learned before that the negation particles ne... pas go around the verb:
Vous ne lavez pas la table.
You don't wash the table.
When the verb is reflexive, the reflexive pronoun me, te, se... goes inside the ne... pas sandwich like this:
Je ne me lave pas les mains.
I don't wash my hands.
Vous ne vous lavez pas les mains.
You don't wash your hands.
The order of the words don't change when using the negative forms ne...jamais and ne...plus Je ne m'achète jamais de livres. Je ne me lave plus les cheveux le soir.
Near futur - How to use "le futur proche"
We are going to talk about the future! Like in English there are two ways to express it in French but today we will focus on the near future. In English, we often use going to to refer to something that will happen in the near future. For example:
I'm going to pack my suitcase.
Luckily for us, you can use this exact same idea to talk about things that are certain to happen in the future in French.
Je vais faire ma valise.
Notice that only one verb is conjugated here (aller → vais). The second one (faire) stays in it's unconjugated (or infinitive) form. You can even follow this with aller itself, and it means the same as it would in English:
Je vais aller voir mes parents.
I'm going to go see my parents.
Learning a new language is like trying to juggle with one hand tied behind your back while hopping on one foot – challenging,😢 but hey, you've got this! Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your language skills be. So, take a deep breath, grab a snack, and tackle those new words one hilarious mistake at a time!
Keep practicing! We will return to explain everything in detail as you progress. Focus on one task at a time, and you will understand how all the pieces fit together. Keep practicing, and soon these ideas will become much easier to handle! 👏
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