FL4: Irregular verbs are useful!

In French verbs are conjugated depending on their subject (I, you, his, her, we, they, etc.).

Most verbs groups (verbs ending in -er, -ir, -re) follow a certain rule to be conjugated. Every time you conjugate them depending on their subject, the verbs all follow the same rule depending on the group they are in.

Exemple:
Manger (to eat)
Je mang-e
Tu mang-es
Il/elle mang-e
Nous mang-ons
Vous mang-ez
Ils/elles mang-ent

All verbs ending in -er end in the conjugations listed above depending on the subject you use. If you want to say “you eat” you would say “Tu manges”.

On top of conjugating the verbs depending on their subject, you must also conjugate them depending on their tense (past, present, future, and a few other ones).

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the traditional rules of conjugation.

In an earlier post I showed you the verb avoir (to have). This verb is irregular as it doesn’t follow any conjugation rules.

For irregular verbs memorization is key!

Now that I have begun conversing in French, I need to conjugate every verb accordingly in m head before I speak it. When I get to an irregular verb, memorizing the conjugation have come in handy!

(Note: the whole conjugation process in speaking is easier than you may think. It is just a habit that needs to be practiced!)

Many of the most common things you will say contain irregular verbs. Pouvoir (to be able to/can), aller (to go), vouloir (to want) are some irregular verbs.

Conjugation of these 3 verbs:
Pouvoir
Je peux
Tu peux
Il/elle peut
Nous pouvons
Vous pouvez
Ils/elles peuvent

Aller
Je Vais
Tu vas
Il/elle va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils/elles vont

Vouloir
Je veux
Tu veux
Il/elle veut
Nous voulons
Vous voulez
Ils/elles veulent

Sentences you will use that use these irregular verbs:

I can eat  lots of food.- Je peux manger beacoup de la nourriture.

Can you come tomorrow?- Est-ce que tu peux venir demain?

We want to eat now.- Nous voulons manger maintenent.

For an awesome verb conjugater click here

 

FL 2: Avoir (to have)

Avoir is an incredibly common verb in the French language. It is also an irregular verb meaning that if you know the average verb conjugation rules (coming up at a later date), they DO NOT apply to the verb avoir.

Avoir means TO HAVE

Here is how we conjugate it depending on the subject:

J’ai  (Je + ai but we replace the e with an ‘ )- I have
Tu as – You have (an informal you)
Il/elle a – He/she has
Nous avons- We have
Vous avez- You have (formal you or plural you)
Ils/elles ont- The girls or boys have/they have

So now that we have the basic conjugation of this verb here are some ways to put it in a sentence:

J’ai un ballon. I have a ball.
Tu as un ballon. You have a ball.
Vous avez un ballon, monsieur. You have a ball, sir.
Paul a un ballon. Paul has a ball.
Nous avons les ballons. We have the balls.
Ils ont les ballons. They have the balls.
J’ai deux bras. I have two arms.
Tu as deux mains. You have two hands.

And just in case you didn’t know…

• un ballon – a ball
• les ballons – the balls
• deux -two
• des mains- hands
• des bras- arms