Grammar: Verbs - Regular and Irregular Verbs – iGCSE French CAIE Revision

Grammar: Verbs - Regular and Irregular Verbs

Section: Regular Verbs

French regular verbs are split into three categories based on their infinitive endings: -er, -ir, -re
To conjugate -er verbs, remove the -er ending from the infinitive and add the appropriate ending. For example: parler (to speak): je parle, tu parles, il/elle parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils/elles parlent.
Conjugation of -ir verbs involves removing the -ir and appending the appropriate ending. For instance: finir (to finish): je finis, tu finis, il/elle finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils/elles finissent.
To conjugate -re verbs, eliminate the -re and add the corresponding ending. For example: rendre (to return): je rends, tu rends, il/elle rend, nous rendons, vous rendez, ils/elles rendent.

Section: Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs don’t follow the standard conjugation patterns of -er, -ir, -re verbs, and must be learned individually.
Some commonly used irregular verbs include être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), and faire (to do/make).
For example, the present tense forms of être are: je suis, tu es, il/elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont.
Each irregular verb has unique conjugation patterns across different tenses, such as future, conditional, subjunctive, and past tenses.

Section: Verb Tenses

The present tense in French expresses a current action or state of being. For example, ‘je mange’ means ‘I eat’ or ‘I am eating’.
The imperfect tense portrays ongoing, incomplete past actions. For instance, ‘je mangeais’ translates to ‘I was eating’.
The future tense indicates an event that will happen later. For example, ‘je mangerai’ means ‘I will eat’.
The conditional tense is used to express what would happen under certain circumstances. For instance, ‘je mangerais’ means ‘I would eat’.
The subjunctive mood is employed to express a wide range of states such as doubt, necessity, possibility, or action that has not yet occurred. For example, ‘il faut que je mange’ means ‘I must eat’.

Section: Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs where the subject and object are the same, and they usually end by “-se” or “-s’ “ in their infinitive form.
To conjugate reflexive verbs, use a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject—me (myself), te (yourself-singular), se (himself, herself, itself, themselves), nous (ourselves), vous (yourself-plural, yourselves, themselves).
Reflexive verbs generally use être as the auxiliary verb in compound tenses, such as the past tense. For instance, ‘je me suis lavé(e)’ means ‘I washed myself’.