1. Putting It Together
An ER verb assembly kit

2. 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)
We conjugate verbs in English every day! How???

3. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Watch carefully as our verb construction 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

4. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Here are some other familiar verbs in English:
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
We change “to dance” (the infinitive) to “dance” or “dances” depending on who is doing the dancing. (I, You, He, She, We, They). We do the same for “to eat.”

5. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Here are a couple more verbs conjugated in English:
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?

6. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Would you say...
He are?
She work?
I is?
You be?
You to work?
I to be?
They watches?
Of course not! Conjugated verbs are not interchangeable! It sounds ridiculous! It’s the same way with the French language.
Let’s try conjugating French verbs.

7. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following:

8. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following:
Subject-
The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, Marie)

9. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following:
Subject-
The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, Marie)
Infinitive-
The verb in its raw state: to like / aimer

10. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following:
Subject-
The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, Marie)
Infinitive-
The verb in its raw state: to like / aimer
What are some other infinitive verbs that you already know?
chanter
travailler
écouter
parler
étudier

11. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following:
Subject-
The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, Marie)
Infinitive-
The verb in its raw state: to like / aimer
What are some other infinitive verbs that you already know?
chanter
travailler
écouter
parler
étudier
Stem-
The verb without the er: travaill, étudi, écout, parl, chant...

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

13. 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!!!

14. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Let’s conjugate a verb by following the 4 simple steps:

15. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Let’s conjugate a verb by following the 4 simple steps:
Decide on the worker (the subject of the sentence... Who is doing the action?)

16. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Let’s conjugate a verb by following the 4 simple steps:
Decide on the worker (the subject of the sentence... Who is doing the action?)
Choose your drill package (the infinitive verb)

17. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Let’s conjugate a verb by following the 4 simple steps:
Decide on the worker (the subject of the sentence... Who is doing the action?)
Choose your drill package (the infinitive verb)
Remove all er packaging from the drill

18. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Let’s conjugate a verb by following the 4 simple steps:
Decide on the worker (the subject of the sentence... Who is doing the action?)
Choose your drill package (the infinitive verb)
Remove the er packaging from the drill
Select the correct drill bit for the worker given (the ending that goes with your subject)

19. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “I speak...”

20. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “I speak...” Je

21. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “I speak...” Je
+ infinitive (to speak) parler

22. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “I speak...” Je
+ infinitive (to speak) parler
– “er” (parl)

23. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “I speak...” Je
+ infinitive (to speak) parler
– “er” (parl)
+ the ending that goes with je (e)
= parle

24. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “I speak...” Je
+ infinitive (to speak) parler
– “er” (parl)
+ the ending that goes with je (e)
= parle
Je parle. = I speak. I am speaking. I do speak.

25. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Je parle français.
(I speak French.)
(I am speaking French.)
(I do speak French.)

26. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...”

27. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...” Il

28. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...” Il
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)

29. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...” Il
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er” (parl)

30. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...” Il
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er” (parl)
+ the ending that goes with “il” (e) (parle)

31. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...” Il
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er” (parl)
+ the ending that goes with “il” (e) (parle)
=il parle

32. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “He speaks...” Il
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er” (parl)
+ the ending that goes with “il” (e) (parle)
=il parle
(he speaks, he is speaking, he does speak)

33. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “you speak...” tu
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er”
+ the ending that goes with “tu” (es)
= tu parles
( you speak, you are speaking, you do speak.)

34. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “we speak...”
nous
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er”
+ the ending that goes with “nous” (ons)
= nous parlons
( we speak, we are speaking, we do speak.)

35. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
(infinitive)
“to speak”
How do we say “they speak...”
ils
+ infinitive (to speak) (parler)
– “er”
+ the ending that goes with “ils” (ent)
= ils parlent
( they speak, they are speaking, they do speak.)

36. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
parler
parler – er + e= parle = je parle
parler – er + es = parles = tu parles
parler – er + e = parle = il/elle parle
parler – er + ons = parlons = nous parlons
parler – er + ez = parlez = vous parlez
parler – er + ent = parlent = ils parlent Je Tu
Il/Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles

37. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
aimer
aimer – er + e= aime = j’aime
aimer – er + es = aimes = tu aimes
aimer – er + e = aime = il/elle aime
aimer – er + ons = aimons = nous aimons
aimer – er + ez = aimez = vous aimez
aimer – er + ent = aiment = ils aiment Je Tu
Il/Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles

38. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
FELICITATIONS
Once you have memorized these endings, you will be able to conjugate any regular –er verb in the French language. That means you can conjugate hundreds of verbs...