INTRO TO CONJUGATION “How to make your verb match your subject”

Target, or Objective: - To understand what it means to conjugate a verb - To know what an infinitive is - To be able to conjugate a French “-er” verb for the six subject pronouns (Je, Tu, Il/Elle, Nous, Vous, Ils/Elles)

You will be successful if you can: - Describe what it means to conjugate a verb and - Conjugate a regular –er verb

It means to ___________ the form of the verb to ___________ the subject. What does it mean to conjugate a verb? -What experiences have you had in English class? change match

We’ve already learned the verb être -“to be”- and its conjugation For example… Je suis Tu es Il est Nous sommes Vous êtes Ils sont I am You are He is We are You all are They are

For most verbs in English, though, the forms don’t change very much I speak You speak He speak s We speak You all speak They speak Je parle Tu parl es Il parle Nous parlons Vous parlez Ils parlent … but in French:

But don’t panic! -- The endings are pretty consistent ! - Most verbs are regular - There are only 3 types of regular verbs - -ER verbs - -IR verbs - -RE verbs - Once you learn the endings for a verb type, you can apply those endings to ALL the verbs of that type.

For example… parle parl es parle parlons parlez parlent Parler is a regular –ER verb Every other regular –ER verb is conjugated with the same exact endings !

There are LOTS of -er verbs (just a few here) … all conjugated with the same endings! adorer admirer arriver accepter adapter adopter changer commencer danser entrer regarder terminer voyager comparer commander continuer décider désirer habiter chercher trouver fermer garder persuader regretter travailler accepter aider amuser aimer détester dîner donner excuser forcer marcher manger mériter insister inviter passer payer préférer préparer présenter répéter retourner tourner téléphoner utiliser visiter

What does it mean … to be an “–ER verb” ? - The INFINITIVE ends in –ER (as in PARLER) What is an INFINITIVE ? - An INFINITIVE is the BASIC UNCHANGED version of the verb. - It’s the form found in the French dictionary. - It translates in English as “TO _______” (ex: PARLER means “TO speak”)

So… How do you CONJUGATE an –ER verb ? STEP 1: You take off the –ER ending to find the STEM. -- You start with the INFINITIVE PARL ER STEP 2: You ADD the appropriate ending to match your subject.

It’s sort of like a train engine “UN-HOOKING” a car and “HOOKING” on another one. “ Je parl e ” is how to say “ I speak.”

For the other subject pronouns … “Tu parl es” = “You speak.” “ I l parl e ” = “He speaks.”

“Nous parl ons” = “We speak.” “Vous parl ez ” = “You all speak.”

“ I ls parl ent ” = “They speak.”

Looking at them all together: - parl Je Tu Il Nous Vous Ils e es e ons ez ent What do you add?

Je parl e Tu parl es I l parl e Nous parl ons Vous parl ez I ls parl ent And there’s a SONG! (to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”) -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent

Did we reach our target? - Do we understand what it means to conjugate a verb? - Do we know what an infinitive is? - Do we understand how to conjugate PARLER and other –er verbs for the six subject pronouns? (…once we memorize the endings?) (Je, Tu, Il/Elle, Nous, Vous, Ils/Elles)