An – ER, -IR, & -RE verb assembly kit Putting It Together An – ER, -IR, & -RE verb assembly kit Adapted from: Karin White – French teacher, C&I 401 – Fall 2005 Dr. Cheri Toledo, Curriculum Web- Middle School French

La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation So what is conjugation? What does “conjugate” mean? In grammatical terms, it’s… Taking the regular form of the verb (such as: to have, to eat, to dance, to speak, etc) and changing it to agree with the subject of the verb (the person/object performing the action) Lost? Don’t you worry. We conjugate verbs in English every day! How???

La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation Watch carefully as our verb repair specialty crew conjugates an English verb in the present tense. to be I am We are You are You (pl) are He/She is They are

La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation Don’t they do excellent work? Here are some other familiar projects: to eat to dance I dance We dance You dance You (pl) dance He/She dances They dance I eat We eat You eat You (pl) eat He/She eats They eat So…We change “to dance” to “dance” or “dances” depending on who we’re talking about (I, You, They). Therefore, the “general” rule is to drop the FIRST 2 letters and add an ending if needed.

La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation Here are a few verbs try. Remember to use the present tense! to watch to work I watch We watch You watch You (pl) watch He/She watches They watch I work We work You work You (pl) work He/She works They work C’est facile, n’est-ce pas? 

La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation Would you say… I is? You be? He are? She work? They watches? I to be? You to work? Oops! Of course not! Conjugated verbs are not interchangeable! It sounds ridiculous! It’s the same way with the French language. Now that you are experts, let’s check out the nuts and bolts of conjugating French verbs.

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following 4 terms: Subject- The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, la télé) Infinitive- The verb by itself: danser, parler, inviter, regarder What others can you name? travailler habiter organiser écouter chanter Stem- The verb without the er/ir/re: dans, parl, invit, regard

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories And most importantly: Ending- The combination of letters that we put in place of the “er” that we dropped earlier. Each pronoun has its own ending to be used. Below is a chart that gives these endings -ER Endings Je e [—] Nous ons [ohn] Tu es [—] Vous ez [eh] Il/ Elle Ils/Elles ent [—]

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories Or think of it this way: Subject Infinitive Stem Ending The worker: The drill packaging: The drill: (packaging removed) The drill bits: er e, es, e, ons, ez, ent Je, Tu, Nous, la fille, Ils aimer, danser, chanter, parler aim, dans, chant, parl The worker chooses the bit for each drill!!!

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories Ok, here’s the drill : Try to conjugate these French verbs by following the 4 simple steps: 1. Take note of the worker (sujet) 2. Choose your drill package (groupe de verbe) 3. Remove ALL er packaging from the drill (how else are you going to use it?) Select the correct bit for the worker given *Notice, there are 6 workers for each verb!* parler Je Nous Tu Vous Il/Elle Ils/Elles

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories parler jouer Je Nous Je Nous Tu Vous Tu Vous Il/Elle Ils/Elles Il/Elle Ils/Elles habiter aimer Je Nous Je Nous Tu Vous Tu Vous Il/Elle Ils/Elles Il/Elle Ils/Elles Go to the next page to see how you did!

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories parler jouer Je parle Nous parlons Je joue Nous jouons Tu parles Vous parlez Tu joues Vous jouez Il/Elle parle Ils/Elles parlent Il/Elle joue Ils/Elles jouent habiter aimer J’habite Nous habitons J’aime Nous aimons Tu habites Vous habitez Tu aimes Vous aimez Il/Elle habite Ils/Elles habitent Il/Elle aime Ils/Elles aiment How did you do? Ready for a new twist?

La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories Let’s try it with adorer, in a chart: Subject (worker) + Stem (drill) Ending (bit) Result J’ ador e adore Tu es adores Il/Elle Nous ons adorons Vous ez adorez Ils/Elles ent adorent

Les verbes du “G” special Special G verbs nager Je nage Nous nageons Tu nages Vous nagez Il/Elle nage Ils/Elles nagent For these “special G” verbs, the “Nous” form is different. What changes? Why? (think pronunciation) voyager Je voyage Nous voyageons Tu voyages Vous voyagez Il/Elle voyage Ils/Elles voyagent manger Je mange Nous mangeons Tu manges Vous mangez Il/Elle mange Ils/Elles mangent Something about the spelling has changed…

And the French would say… Les verbes du “G” special Special G verbs So what changes? -We’ve added an “e” between the “g” and “ons” -Why? -So we can keep the [zsh] sound in all the verb forms (je, tu, nous, vous, etc) consistently. And if we didn’t? -We’d have: nagons [nah – gohn] voyagons [voy –a-gohn] mangon [mah –gohn] And the French would say…

TROIS Sens Three Meanings Each conjugated form of a verb in the present tense has THREE meanings. 3

TROIS Sens Three Meanings For example, let’s conjugate: voyager Je voyage Nous voyageons Tu voyages Vous voyagez Il/Elle voyage Ils/Elles voyagent “Je voyage” has three meanings: I travel, I am traveling, I do travel “Ils/Elles voyagent” has three meanings: They travel, they are traveling, and they do travel

TROIS Sens Three Meanings Need a few more examples? We play We are playing We do play Nous jouons They borrow They are borrowing They do borrow Elles empruntent I win I am winning I do win Je gagne

What about the ‘IR’ verbs? They follow the same rules, they just have different drill bits  -IR Endings Je is [ee] Nous issons [ee-sohn] Tu Vous issez [ee-seh] Il/ Elle it [ee] Ils/ Elles issent [iss-]

Veux-tu le voir en action? Let’s use the verb CHOISIR (to choose) Subject (worker) + Stem (drill) Ending (bit) Result Je chois is choisis Tu Il/Elle it choisit Nous issons choisissons Vous issez choisissez Ils/Elles issent choisissent

And ‘RE’ verbs? -RE Endings Je s [-] Nous ons [ohn] Tu Vous ez [eh] Again, same rules, they just have different drill bits  -RE Endings Je s [-] Nous ons [ohn] Tu Vous ez [eh] Il/ Elle - [-] Ils/Elles ent [-]

Veux-tu le voir en action? Let’s use the verb ENTENDRE (to hear) Subject (worker) + Stem (drill) Ending (bit) Result J’ entend s entends Tu Il/Elle - Nous ons entendons Vous ez entendez Ils/Elles ent entendent

FAQ’s

Les Questions Fréquentes Frequently Asked Questions Technical Questions: Instead of dropping the “er” when conjugating a verb, can’t I just drop the “r”? What you’re really asking: Can’t I leave some of the packaging and still use the drill without any problems? Answer: NO! It may seem like it doesn’t make a difference, but it is a bad habit to start! Some verbs have fancier endings and cannot be conjugated by just dropping the “r”. Conjugation will not turn out properly… nor will your project if you leave the packaging on the drill!

Les Questions Fréquentes Frequently Asked Questions Technical Questions: Why is the “e” missing in “Je” when I conjugate verbs like: aimer, habiter, écouter, adorer, obéir entendre, etc. What you’re really asking: Is the “Je” worker picky about certain drills? Answer: Yes, the “Je” worker is picky. If the drill it wants to use begins with a vowel or an ‘h’ (which is silent in French). it likes to eliminate the “e” in “Je” and put an apostrophe in it’s place. For example: J’habite, J’aime, J’invite, J’obéis.

Les Questions Fréquentes Frequently Asked Questions Technical Questions: Will “je suis parle” or “je suis parler” work instead of saying “je parle” to mean “I am speaking”? What you’re really asking: Can’t a worker use two drills at the same time with or without the correct bit? Answer: NO! It’s dangerous and makes no sense! “Je parle” already means “I am speaking.” “Je suis parle” translates to “I am am speaking.” “Je suis parler” means “I am to speak.” Do not put any form of être (suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont) in front of any verb!!! (you’d be using two drills… être and another verb)