French conjugation is the variation in the endings of French verbs (inflections) depending on the person (I, you, we, etc), tense (present, future, etc.) and mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, etc.). Most verbs are regular and can be entirely determined by their infinitive form (ex. parler), however irregular verbs require the knowledge of more than just the infinitive form, known as the principal parts, of which there are seven in French. With the knowledge of these seven principal parts of a verb, one can conjugate almost all French verbs. However, a handful of verbs, including être, are highly irregular and the seven principal parts are not sufficient to conjugate the verb fully.
French verbs are conventionally divided into three conjugations (conjugaisons) with the following grouping:
The first two groups follow a regular conjugation, whereas the third group is more complex. The third group is considered a closed-class conjugation form,[1] meaning that most new verbs introduced to the French language are of the first group (téléviser, atomiser, radiographier), with the remaining ones being of the second group (alunir).
The verb aller and its derivates are the only verbs ending in -er belonging to the third group.
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) andimperative (impératif). There are simple (one-word) tenses and those constructed with an auxiliary verb. It is the simple tenses that are subject to conjugation rules, since in the others it is the auxiliary verb that is conjugated as a simple verb. The finite forms are:
The non-finite forms are:
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.
There are two auxiliary verbs in French: avoir (to have) and être (to be), used to conjugate compound tenses according to these rules:
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:
As stand-alone verbs, the conjugation of the two auxiliaries is listed in the appendix at the end of the article.
French verbs ending in -er, which constitute the largest class, inflect somewhat differently from other verbs. Between the stem and the inflectional endings that are common across most verbs, there may be a vowel, which in the case of the -er verbs is a silent -e- (in the simple present singular), -é or -ai (in the past participle and the je form of the simple past), and -a- (in the rest of simple past singular and in the past subjunctive). In addition, the orthographic -t found in the -ir and -re verbs in the singular of the simple present and past is not found in this conjugation, so that the final consonants are -Ø, -s, -Ø rather than -s, -s, -t.
Present participle: parl-ant
Past participle: parl-é
Auxiliary verb: avoir(arriver, entrer, monter, passer, rester, rentrer, retourner, and tomber use être)
Exceptional contexts:
Exceptional verbs:
The -ir verbs differ from the -er verbs in the following points:
Present participle: chois-iss-ant
Past participle: chois-i
Auxiliary verb: avoir (partir uses être)
Most verbs of the third group end in -re. A few end in -ir and three end in -er. Most can be described with seven principal parts. No verbs has separate stems for all seven parts; instead, they tend to "inherit" the same stem as another part. Note that the endings for these verbs are basically the same as for regular -ir verbs; in fact, regular -ir verbs can be fit into this scheme by treating the -iss- variants as different principal parts.
The following table shows how the conjugation of an irregular verb is constructed from its principal parts. Note that a few verbs construct the present indicative (especially the singular) differently.
1 The -t is regularly dropped when directly following a d or t (e.g. il vend "he sells", not *il vendt).
2 +t if ends with vowel, else +s.
Present participle: 1P-ant
Past participle: PP
The following table gives principal parts for a number of irregular verbs. There are a number of fair-sized groups of verbs that are conjugated alike; these are listed first. There are some additional irregularities in the present indicative, which are listed below. Nearly all irregularities affect the singular, and are purely issues of spelling. (Stems that are irregular in the sense of being unpredictable by the above rules are given in boldface.)
1 Only in Quebec French.
2 The ending -t is regularly dropped when directly following a d or t (e.g. il vend "he sells", not *il vendt).
3 Alternation of "-ai-" and -oi- before consonant or unstressed e, "-ay-" and -oy- before other vowels is automatic in all verbs.
4 See following table for similar verbs.
5 See following table for notes.
Infinitive: recevoir "to receive"
INF: recev-
1S: reçoi-
1P: recev-
3P: reçoiv-
FUT: recevr-
PP: reçu-
PAST: reçu-
Present participle: recev-ant
Past participle: reçu
There are nine verbs which have an irregular subjunctive stem. These verbs are generally the most irregular verbs in French. With them the 3P stem plays no role and the 1S stem is little use in inferring the present indicative inflections. Many of them construct the present indicative (especially the singular) in an idiosyncratic fashion. The verb aller also constructs its past participle and simple past differently, according to the endings for -er verbs.
A feature with these verbs is the competition between the SUBJ stem and the 1P stem to control the first and second plural present subjunctive, the imperative and the present participle, in ways that vary from verb to verb.
The paradigm taking into account the subjunctive stem is shown in the following table. The keys 1S etc are as for the 7 principal part irregular verbs. In additionSUBJ stands for first person singular present subjunctive stem.
1 +t if ends with vowel, else +s
Present participle: 1P-ant or SUBJ-ant
Past participle: PP(e)(s)
The following table gives the principal parts of the nine verbs. Stems that are irregular in the sense of being unpredictable by the above rules are shown in boldface. The column headed 1/2 Plural tells whether the subjunctive 1st and 2nd person plural follow the subjunctive stem or the 1P indicative stem. Likewise the Imperative column and the Present Participle column. Still there are irregularites where the inflections depart from the paradigm. These cases are indicated with an asterisk and the exceptional inflections are listed separately.
* See following table for exceptions.
1 See following table for similar verbs.
2 See following table for notes.
3 In Classical French and even in certain dialects (like in Cajun and some Quebec dialects) je vas is used.
This verb has different stems for different tenses. These are imperfect av- ; present subjunctive ai- future and conditional aur-; simple past and past subjunctive e-. Although the stem changes, the inflections of these tenses are as a regular -oir verb.
In the present, not only are there stem changes, but the inflections are irregular as well:
1 Notice that the imperative form uses the subjunctive conjugation.
Non-finite forms:
Auxiliary verb: avoir
This verb has different stems for different tenses. These are all pronounced differently: imperfect ét-; present subjunctive soi-; future and conditional ser-; simple past and past subjunctive in f-. The inflections of these tenses are as a regular -oir verb (that is, as an -re verb but with the vowel u /y/ in the f- forms). For example, subjunctive soyons, soyez is pronounced with the y sound of other -re and -oir verbs.
In the simple present, not only are there stem changes, but the inflections are irregular as well:
1 The imperative form uses the subjunctive conjugation.
The non-finite forms use the stem êt- /ɛt/ (before a consonant)/ét- /et/ (before a vowel):
Auxiliary verb: avoir
The verb aller means "to go" and is sufficiently irregular that it merits listing its conjugation in full. It is the only verb with the first group ending "er" to have an irregular conjugation. It belongs to none of the three sections of the third group, and is often categorized on its own. The verb has different stems for different tenses. These are all pronounced differently: past all- /al/ (simple past, imperfect, past subjunctive); present subjunctive aill-; conditional and future ir-. The inflections of these tenses are completely regular, and pronounced as in any other -er verb. However, in the simple present, not only are there stem changes, but the inflections are irregular as well:
The non-finite forms are all based on all- :
Auxiliary verb: être
1 In Classical French and even in certain dialects (like in Cajun and some Quebec dialects) je vas is used.