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 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: -er verbs -ir verbs -re verbs
-re verbs Now let’s look at the third type of regular 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: -re verbs
Let’s take a really common –re verb: perdre
perdre is the infinitive Step 1: drop the –re from the infinitive; this leaves you with the “stem” of the verb. perdre perd-
perdre is the infinitive Step 2: add specific endings onto the stem, based on the subject pronoun you are using -s -ons -s -ez - -ent
perdre – to lose Start with the stem! perd- perd- perd- perd- perd- perd- nous vous ils/elles je tu il/elle Start with the stem!
perdre – to lose -s -s - nous vous ils/elles -ons -ez -ent je tu il/elle Add the proper endings.
perdre – to lose perd- -s perd- -s perd- - nous vous ils/elles je tu il/elle perd- -ons perd- -ez perd- -ent
perdre – to lose perds perds perd nous vous ils/elles perdons perdez perdent je tu il/elle
I would like you to learn 5 common French –re verbs:
perdre = to lose descendre = to go down vendre = to sell attendre = to wait (for) répondre = to respond
Here is what some of these verbs would look like when conjugated:
attendre – to wait (for) attends attends attend nous vous ils/elles attendons attendez attendent j’ tu il/elle
répondre – to respond réponds réponds répond nous vous ils/elles répondons répondez répondent je tu il/elle
Conjugating regular –re verbs in French