Conjugation is the variation in the endings of verbs (inflections) depending on the person (I, you, we, etc), tense (present, future, etc.) and mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, etc.). 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,Le nouveau Bescherelle: L'art de conjuguer, 1972, pp. 10 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 (except ). There are about 6000 verbs in this group. 2nd conjugation: verbs ending in -ir, with the present participle ending in . 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 , the verb .
Verb forms The verb forms of French are the finite forms, which are combinations of grammatical moods in various tenses, and the non-finite forms. The moods are: indicative (indicatif), subjunctive (subjonctif), conditional (conditionnel) and imperative (impératif). Tense formation can be either simple (a single, conjugated form), or compound (an auxiliary verb plus a participle, which is not conjugated; see below for details). The finite forms are:
Indicative Present (présent) which is simple Present perfect (passé composé): literally "compound past", formed with an auxiliary verb in the present Imperfect (imparfait), simple Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait): literally "more than perfect", formed with an auxiliary verb in the imperfect Simple past (passé simple) Conventionally used only in written language (especially in literature) or in extremely formal speech. Past perfect (passé antérieur): formed with an auxiliary verb in the past simple. It is somewhat rare. Simple future (futur simple) Future perfect (futur antérieur): formed with an auxiliary verb in the future simple Subjunctive Present, simple Past (passé): 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 (form 1): formed with an auxiliary verb in the present conditional Past (form 2): formed with an auxiliary verb in the imperfect subjunctive. Rarely used.
The non-finite forms are:
Past participle Present participle Gerundive: (constructed by preceding the present participle with the preposition en)
Both participles may be used as adjectives in which case they are inflected as adjectives. Used as an adjective the present participle is known as the verbal adjective. There are some cases where a form similar but not identical to the present participle is used for the verbal adjective.
Auxiliary verbs There are two auxiliary verbs in French: avoir (to have) and être (to be), used to conjugate compound tenses according to these rules:
Transitive verbs (direct or indirect) in the active voice are conjugated with the verb avoir. Intransitive verbs are conjugated with either avoir or être (see French verbs#Temporal auxiliary verbs). Reflexive verbs (or "pronominal 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 (It was eaten).
Compound tenses are conjugated with an auxiliary followed by the past participle, ex: j'ai fait (I did), je suis tombé (I fell). When être is used, the participle is inflected according to the gender and number of the subject. The participle is inflected with the use of the verb avoir according to the direct object, but only if the direct object precedes the participle, ex: il a marché, elle a marché, nous avons marché (he walked, she walked, we walked) il est tombé, elle est tombée, nous sommes tombés, elles sont tombées (he fell, she fell, we fell, they (fem.) fell) Il a acheté une voiture. Voilà la voiture qu'il a achetée. (He bought a car. Here is the car he bought)
As stand-alone verbs, the conjugation of the two auxiliaries is listed in the appendix at the end of the article.
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 (first person singular), -es (second person singular) and -e (third person singular), 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.
+Infinitive: parl-er "to speak" Indicative Subjunctive Conditional ImperativePresentPast simpleImperfectFuture Present Imperfect Present Present je parl-e parl-ai parl-ais parler-ai parl-e parl-ass-e parler-ais tu parl-es parl-as parler-as parl-es parl-ass-es parl-e il/elle parl-e parl-a parl-ait parler-a parl-e parl-ât parler-ait nous parl-ons parl-âmes parl-ions parler-onsparl-ionsparl-ass-ionsparler-ionsparl-ons vous parl-ez parl-âtes parl-iez parler-ez parl-iez parl-ass-iezparler-iez parl-ez ils/elles parl-ent parl-èrentparl-aient parler-ont parl-ent parl-ass-entparler-aient
Present participle: parl-ant Past participle: parl-é Auxiliary verb: avoir (arriver, entrer, monter, passer, rester, rentrer, retourner, and tomber use être)
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/ (je déplac-e - nous déplaç-ons); similarly, in -ger verbs, the g becomes ge before such endings, to indicate that it is pronounced /ʒ/ (je mange : nous mangeons). In -oyer and -uyer verbs, the y becomes an i before endings that start with a silent e (nous envoyons : j'envoie); 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[C]er verbs, where [C] is a consonant, the é becomes an è before silent endings, and optionally in the future and conditional tenses. For example, répéter (to repeat) -> je répète (present) / je répéterai or je répèterai (future) / je répéterais or je répèterais (conditional). In -e[C]er verbs other than most -eler and -eter verbs, the e becomes an è before endings that start with a silent e (including the future and conditional endings). For example: peler (to peel) -> je pèle (present) / je pèlerai (future) / je pèlerais (conditional). 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 (to call) -> j'appelle (present) / j'appellerai (future) / j'appellerais (conditional). 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.
Exceptional contexts: 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 (traditional usage) or è (modern usage), in order to link the two words : Parlè-je ?, "Am I speaking?". However, this construction is very rare (most common usage in speech and writing would be, Est-ce que je parle ?) 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!"
Irregular verbs: 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 -ir verbs differ from the -er verbs in the following points: 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. (The change in pronunciation is due to the change of vowel from e, ai, a to -i-.) 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.
+Infinitive : choisir "to choose" Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative Present Past simple Imperfect Future Present Imperfect Present Present je chois-is chois-iss-ais choisir-ai chois-iss-e choisir-ais tu choisir-as chois-iss-es chois-is il/elle chois-it chois-iss-ait choisir-a chois-iss-e chois-ît choisir-ait nous chois-iss-ons chois-îmes chois-iss-ions choisir-ons chois-iss-ions choisir-ions chois-iss-ons vous chois-iss-ez chois-îtes chois-iss-iez choisir-ez chois-iss-iez choisir-iez chois-iss-ez ils/elleschois-iss-ent chois-irent chois-iss-aientchoisir-ont chois-iss-ent choisir-aient
Present participle: chois-iss-ant Past participle: chois-i Auxiliary verb: avoir (partir uses être)
Third group verbs
Verbs of the third group have infinitive endings - 1st section: -ir, with the present participle ending in 2nd section: -oir 3rd section: -re is included in the third group.
The third group contains all verbs not contained in the first two. While the first and second group have very few irregular members there is a great deal of variation in the third group. Nearly all verbs classified as irregular are 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" (regular) value of stem Key infinitive Remove ending -er, -ir, -oir, -re — INF First singular present indicative Remove ending -s, -e Infinitive stem (INF) 1S First plural present indicative Remove ending -ons Infinitive stem (INF) 1P Third plural present indicative Remove ending -ent First plural present stem (1P) 3P (First singular) future Remove ending -ai Full infinitive, minus any -e FUT (Masculine singular) past participle Full word Infinitive stem (INF), plus -u for -re ending else plus -i PP (First singular) past simple Remove ending -s, -ai Past participle (PP), 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.