Conjugating regular re verbs in French Conjugation means

Conjugating regular –re verbs in French

“Conjugation” means that you are taking a verb and breaking it down into usable forms.

An unconjugated verb is called an “infinitive. ” This is the form of the verb that you will find in a dictionary.

There are three categories of regular verbs in French: Ø-er verbs Ø-ir verbs Ø-re verbs

We have already studied the most common type of regular French verbs (–er verbs) and the second most common (–ir verbs). Now let’s look at the third type of regular verbs: Ø-re verbs

Let’s take a really common –re verb: Øperdre

perdre is the infinitive Step 1: drop the –re from the infinitive; this leaves you with the “stem” of the verb. Øperdre Øperd-

perdre is the infinitive Step 2: add specific endings onto the stem, based on the subject pronoun you are using -s -s - -ons -ez -ent

perdre – to lose je perd- nous perd- tu perd- perd vous perd- il/elle - ils/elles perd- Start with the stem!

perdre – to lose je -s nous -ons tu -s vous -ez il/elle - ils/elles -ent Add the proper endings.

perdre – to lose je perd- -s nous perd- -ons tu perd- -s vous perd- -ez il/elle perd- - ils/elles perd- -ent

perdre – to lose je perds nous perdons tu perds vous perdez il/elle perd ils/elles perdent

I would like you to learn 5 common French –re verbs:

Ø perdre = to lose Ø descendre = to go down Ø vendre = to sell Ø attendre = to wait (for) Ø répondre = to respond

Here is what some of these verbs would look like when conjugated:

attendre – to wait (for) tu j’ attends nous attendons attends vous attendez il/elle attend ils/elles attendent

répondre – to respond je réponds nous répondons tu réponds vous répondez il/elle répond ils/elles répondent

Conjugating regular –re verbs in French