Irregular French verbs
In this lesson we'll show you how to conjugate irregular French verbs? As we'll explain, some of the most useful French verbs are irregular. We've chosen some really essential irregular verbs, which you'll need to use on a daily basis. Let's see which they are and show you how to conjugate them in the present tense.
We're going to look at the irregular verbs one tense at a time, rather than lump all the tenses together. Hopefully, that we'll be simpler for you, and will enable us to concentrate on the tenses which are used most often.
There are so many irregular verbs that we've divided the class in two.
Irregular verbs in the present indicative
|
Aller - to go |
Boire - to drink |
Connaitre |
|---|---|---|
|
je fais tu fais il/elle fait nous faisons vous faites ils/elles font |
je bois tu bois il/elle boit nous buvons vous buvez ils/elles boivent |
je connais tu connais il/elle connait nous connaissons vous connaissez ils/elles connaissent |
THAT irregular. That's because irregular verbs often only show slight differences from regular verbs. It's also because some irregular verbs actually have REGULAR forms in certain tenses, but have IRREGULAR forms in others.
Some example phrases:
- You drink too much!
- I know you, don't I?
- He goes to the same restaurant every day.
- I drink herbal tea and I hug trees.
Wait!, I hear you say, those verbs don't look
Now let's look at some more verbs, again in the present indicative. This time pay attention to the pronouns that are being used:
|
Avoir- to have |
Écrire - to write |
Ouvrir - to open |
|---|---|---|
|
j'ai tu as il/elle a nous avons vous avez ils/elles ont |
jû écris tu écris il/elle écrit nous écrivons vous écrivez ils/elles écrivent |
jû ouvre tu ouvres il/elle ouvre nous ouvrons vous ouvrez ils/elles ouvrent |
Did you notice how the pronoun for the first person singular changed in the three cases?
- I have more money than you.
- I write at least 10 emails per day.
- The shop opens at 14:00.
- What time do you open?
Let's continue:
|
Devoir- to have to |
Dire - to say / tell |
Dormir - to sleep |
|---|---|---|
|
je dois tu dois il/elle doit nous devons vous devez ils/elles doivent |
je dis tu dis il/elle dit nous disons vous dites ils/elles disent |
je dors tu dors il/elle dort nous dormons vous dormez ils/elles dorment |
Let's see how to use these irregular verbs in phrases:
- I sleep only 5 hours per night during the week.
- I have to pick Sara up from the train station.
- I have to finish this by Friday. What a pain in the arse!
- He tells lies all the time.
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1.2: Show me more!
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Basic French Grammar
Your starter's guide to French grammar rules.
1.1 Know nothing? Start here!
Bienvenue to our series of classes for anyone starting to learn French, or those of you who were smoking behind the bike sheds when they should have been in French class.
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Basic French Grammar
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Object pronouns
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An introduction to French Verbs
In this basic grammar class we're going to take a look at the main types of French verbs.
Irregular French verbs
How do we conjugate irregular French verbs? As we'll see, some of the most common - and most useful - French verbs are irregular. In this class we'll look at some really essential irregular verbs and show you how to conjugate them in the present tense.
Subject and Object Pronouns in French
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