In French, a verb is inflected to reflect its mood and tense, as well as to agree with its subject in person and number. Following the tradition of Latin grammar, the set of inflected forms of a French verb is called the verb's conjugation.
Stems and endings
French verbs have a large number of simple (one-word) forms. These are composed of two distinct parts: the stem (or root, or radix), which indicates which verb it is, and the ending (inflection), which indicates the verb's tense (imperfect, present, future etc.) and mood and its subject's person (I, you, he/she etc.) and number, though many endings can correspond to multiple tense-mood-subject combinations. In certain parts of the second conjugation there is also a suffix -iss- between the stem and the ending, which derives historically from an inchoative suffix.
In parlaient, the stem parl- indicates that the verb is parler (to speak) and the ending -aient marks the third-person plural imperfect indicative. "Third person plural" meaning the subject of the verb is "they". The "imperfect indicative" being a tense. In finissons, the stem fin- indicates that the verb is finir (to finish), the suffix -iss- follows it, and the inflection -ons marks the first-person plural present indicative or imperative. The "first-person plural" is the "we" form of a verb. The "present indicative" being a tense and "imperative" being a mood, but in French they are indistinguishable without context.
These verb conjugations are most often coupled with a subject pronoun to reinforce who the subject of the verb is (i.e. who is doing the action). Note that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the stem from the ending, especially in irregular verbs such as avoir (to have), aller (to go), dire (to say), être (to be), faire (to do, make), pouvoir (can), savoir (to know), valoir (to be worth, to cost), and vouloir (to want):
Il va travailler. (He goes to work.) Es-tu là ? (Are you there?) Elle a rougi. (She blushed.) In these examples, there is no obvious stem – the verbs conjugate without a stem.
The principle of the fixed stem
The stem normally stays fixed in the first two conjugations: Parler: Je parlerais, tu parlas, qu'ils parlassent, que nous parlions, parlez... Finir: Je finirais, vous finîtes, qu'ils finissent, finis, que nous finissions...
In the third it is often modified, sometimes even between persons in the same tense: Vouloir: Je veux, tu veux, il veut, nous voulons, vous voulez, ils veulent.
But such irregularities apart, the principle is that nothing is removed from the stem. Consequently, verbs ending in -guer and -quer keep the -gu- or -qu- throughout the conjugation, even where simplifying this combination to -g- or -c- would be consistent with the rules of French orthography: Naviguer: nous naviguons, je naviguais, en naviguant... Provoquer: nous provoquons, je provoquais, en provoquant...
Adding to the stem to preserve the pronunciation
But although things are generally not removed from the stem, it is permissible to add letters when this is necessary. Certain stems can undergo various orthographic changes (which are not strictly speaking considered to be irregularities) in order to retain the correct pronunciation:
The -c- in certain stems receives a cedilla before any ending which would otherwise change its pronunciation: Avancer: j'avance, nous avançons, j'avançais… Apercevoir: j'aperçois, tu aperçus, nous apercevons…
The -g- in certain stems is followed by a silent -e- before any ending which would otherwise change its pronunciation: Manger: je mange, nous mangeons, je mangeais, vous mangiez, en mangeant…
Endings (terminaisons)
The ending is a suffix which tells us:
For all verbs, the mood and the tense; For finite verbs, the person and the number; and For the past participle alone, the gender and the number.
Apart from a few frequent verbs which are considered totally irregular (mainly avoir, être, aller and faire), for each tense of each mood a series of six endings (one for each person singular and plural) is associated with a group or subgroup of verbs. Each of these series must now remain fixed throughout a single tense. Consequently, no ending may be modified even when orthographical simplification would be possible:
For example, when the verb stem ends in a vowel (crier, fuir, tuer, voir, etc.), the -e- of the ending may become silent but must still be written (in the present, future, and conditional):
Fuir (to flee), present subjunctive: que je fuie, que tu fuies, qu'il fuie, que nous fuyions, que vous fuyiez, qu'ils fuient… Créer (to create), future indicative: je créerai, tu créeras, il créera, nous créerons, vous créerez, ils créeront…
Similarly, the imperfect indicative and present subjunctive endings for the first and second persons plural are -ions and -iez: for verbs such as gagner, voir, rire, briller, etc., the -i- of these endings must be retained, even though some speakers pronounce them the same way as the present indicative forms without -i-:Other speakers maintain a distinction between, for example, voyez and voyiez (Tranel 1987, pp. 120–21).
Nous gagnions (vs. gagnons), vous voyiez (vs. voyez), nous riions (vs. rions), vous brilliez (vs. brillez), …
Formation of simple tenses active
These tenses are not formed with an auxiliary, and their formation is discussed in the following section.
Infinitive (Infinitif)
A verb is normally named by its present infinitive (Infinitif présent). Starting from this infinitive, the conjugations can be classified into three different groups:
The first group or first conjugation. This contains the verbs with infinitives ending in -er /e/ (with the exception of aller, which due to its numerous irregularities is usually classed as being in the third conjugation): etc. For example, for the verb parler, the stem is parl- and the ending is -er .
The second group or second conjugation. This contains the verbs with infinitives ending in -ir whose present participle ends in -issant : etc. For example, for the verb finir, the stem is fin- and the ending is -ir.
The third group or third conjugation. This contains all the other verbs, all considered as to some extent irregular, to wit: the verbs ending in -ir not belonging to the second conjugation, the verbs ending in -oir, the verbs ending in -re, and the verb aller:
etc. Examples: – the stem is cour- and the ending is -ir /iʁ/. – the stem is dev- and the ending is -oir /waʁ/. – the stem is rend- and the ending is -re /ʁ/. – the stem is all- and the ending is -er /e/.
Note that the auxiliaries être and avoir, although they would naturally seem to belong to the third conjugation, are traditionally classed separately.
Present indicative (Indicatif présent)
The present indicative is the form of the verb used to describe an action in the present e.g. Je parle means "I speak" or "I am speaking".
The stem of the present indicative is not always regular and can vary (especially in the third conjugation) and there are three main sets of endings: Verbs ending in -er (all verbs of the first group): -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent, pronounced . Verbs ending in -ir (all verbs of the second group and most of the third): -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent, pronounced . But there are numerous irregularities, especially in the third group. Verbs ending in -re (part of the third group): -s, -s, - , -ons, -ez, -ent, pronounced . Example:
1st group 2nd group 3rd group 1st person singular je parle je finis je descends plural nous parlons nous finissons nous descendons2nd person singular tu parles tu finis tu descends plural vous parlez vous finissez vous descendez 3rd person singular il/elle/on parle il/elle/on finit il/elle/on descend Plural ils/elles parlent ils/elles finissent ils/elles descendent Verbs of the second group take an -iss- in the plural conjugations. Verbs of the third group: Verbs ending in -oir : the indicative present stems depend on the verb. The endings are -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent. However, verbs , , and have -x, -x, -t in singular (je peux, tu peux, , , , ). Verbs in -re : endings are the same, stems are equally irregular. There are verbs dire, faire and être which have -tes instead of -ez and other irregularities. Verbs with -ttre have -ts, -ts, -t in singular (je mets for mettre, tu bats for battre). Verbs with -dre have endings -ds, -ds, -d in singular (e.g. : je prends, tu mouds, il répand) except verbs in -indre and -soudre (Verbs in -soudre in plural: -solvons, -solvez, -solvent). Verbs vaincre and convaincre have -cs, -cs, -c in singular (, , ). Verbs in -ir : endings are the same as the second group in singular, and they have regular ending of third group in plural.
Imperfect indicative (Indicatif imparfait) The imperfect indicative is a past tense, where the action either continues into the present or is a repeated action e.g. "je parlais" means "I was speaking" or "I used to speak". It may be used when someone or their action is interrupted e.g. "je parlais avant que tu m'arrêtes" meaning "I was speaking before you stopped me" The stem of the imperfect indicative is always invariant for a single verb. It is derived from the first person plural of the present indicative (except for the verb être): Verb boire, present indicative: je bois, tu bois, il boit, nous buvons, vous buvez, ils boivent. Verb boire, imperfect indicative: je buvais, tu buvais, il buvait, nous buvions, vous buviez, ils buvaient.
The endings of this tense are for any of the three groups always: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient, pronounced . For the 1st and 3rd groups, the -i- of the first and second persons plural must always be kept even though it may not be reflected in the pronunciation of certain verbs: Nous travaillions, vous travailliez, nous riions, vous riiez, nous essuyions, vous essuyiez, nous gagnions, vous gagniez, nous tressaillions, vous tressailliez, nous priions, vous priiez...
Example:
1st group 2nd group je parlais je finissais tu parlais tu finissais il, elle, on parlait il, elle, on finissait nous parlions nous finissions vous parliez vous finissiez ils parlaient ils, elles finissaient
In older texts, one can find the endings -ois, -ois, -oit, -ions, -iez, -oient, corresponding to the orthography of Old French. This spelling coexisted with the modern endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient and was not officially abandoned by the Académie française until 1835.Cabinet de curosités, L'histoire de l'imparfait Example:
1st group 2nd group je parlois je finissois tu parlois tu finissois il, elle, on parloit il, elle, on finissoit nous parlions nous finissions vous parliez vous finissiez ils parloient ils, elles finissoient
Verb être : the stem is ét- (/et/), endings are the same.
Past historic (Indicatif passé simple or Indicatif passé défini)
Note that in modern language this tense is used only in formal writing, usually referring to historical, historic events, or in novels; it was replaced by passé composé in other contexts. The stem of the past historic tense is not always regular but is always invariant for a single verb. There are four sets of endings for this tense:
Past historic in -a-: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent. [1st group and aller] (pronounced .) Past historic in -i-: -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent. [2nd and 3rd groups] (pronounced .) Past historic in -u-: -us, -us, -ut, -ûmes, -ûtes, -urent. [3rd group] (pronounced .) Past historic in -in-: -ins, -ins, -int, -înmes, -întes, -inrent. [verbs venir, tenir and all the verbs which are formed with them (survenir, maintenir, etc.)] (pronounced .)
Je chantai, je finis, je bus, je vins…
Example:
1st group 2nd group je parlai je finis tu parlas tu finis il, elle, on parla il, elle, on finit nous parlâmes nous finîmes vous parlâtes vous finîtes ils, elles parlèrent ils, elles finirent
Future (Indicatif futur simple)