Regular – er verbs in the Present, Past, and Future Tenses M. Bridgeo

- Er verbs: Present Tense The majority of all –er verbs in French, in the Present Tense, have the same endings for je, tu, il (elle, on), nous, vous, ils (elles). Je -e Tu -es Il -e Nous -ons Vous -ez Ils -ent M. Bridgeo

- Er verbs: Present Tense To form your verb (to conjugate the verb) in the Present Tense, take off the –er and simply add those endings. Je parle (I talk/am talking) Tu parles (You talk/are talking) Il parle (He talks/is talking) Nous parlons (We talk/are talking) Vous parlez (They/You are talking) Ils parlent (They are talking) M. Bridgeo

- Er verbs: Present Tense Here are two examples of exception verbs, and how they are different… Manger (to eat) Aller Je mange Je vais Tu manges Tu vas Il mange Il va Nous mangeons Nous allons Vous mangez Vous allez Ils mangent Ils vont M. Bridgeo

Exercise 1: The Present Tense Directions: Fill in the blanks with the proper form of the verb in the Present Tense. J’____ (aimer; to like) les jouets. Tu ____ (adorer; to adore) en avoir une. Il ____ (parler; to talk) aux filles. Elles ____ (travailler; to work) chez McDonalds. Nous ____ (marcher; to walk) ensemble. Vous ____ (regarder; to look) aux filles, ein? Ils ____ (poser; to ask) beaucoup de questions. Elles ____ (tomber; to fall) souvent. aime adores parle travaillent marchons regardez posent tombent M. Bridgeo

Exercise 3: The Present Tense Directions: Use each verb to write a sentence. Arriver, nous. Retourner, vous. Rester, je. Voyager, il Arrêter, ils. Grimper, elles Affronter, ils. Commencer, je. Manger, nous. Stopper, vous. arrivons retournez reste voyage arrêtent grimpent affrontent Please note: Verbs ending in –ger are the only verbs that retain the -e before adding the –ons to the 1st Person Plural (nous) of the Present Tense (ex: ranger, plonger) commence mangeons stoppez M. Bridgeo

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed? The Past Indefinite tense (Passé Composé in French) is a compound tense of verb. This means that there will be two parts to the verbs, or a mix of two different verbs. If you know the Present (le Présent in French) tense of the verbs avoir (to have) and être (to be), you are half way there  Just in case you need a reminder, here are the verbs avoir and être in their Present tense. avoir (to have) être (to be) J’ai Je suis Tu as Tu es Il a Elle est Nous avons Nous sommes Vous avez Vous êtes Ils ont Ils sont Please note: The verb être, when used as the helping verb for the Past Indefinite, translates as ‘to have’. Example: Je suis allé(e)… I have gone… M. Bridgeo

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed? As mentioned, the Past Indefinite (le Passé Composé) is a compound tense…so you need to add something to either the verb avoir or the verb être to complete the formation of the Past Indefinite tense. What is added is known as the Past Participle (le participe passé in French). The past participle is used for every subject pronoun for the verb in question (je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles). For all verbs that use avoir as the helping verb, the past participle never changes. Here is an example: the verb Manger (to eat) in the Past Indefinite tense would be… J’ai mangé I ate Tu as mangé You ate Il a mangé He ate Nous avons mangé We ate Vous avez mangé They/you ate Ils ont mangé They ate The verb Manger is one of the 99.9% of verbs that are conjugated with the verb Avoir, which you’ll see on the right. To form the Past Participle for –er verbs …drop the -er, and add -é M. Bridgeo

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed? So you now know that there are two verbs that team up to form the Past Indefinite (le Passé Composé) tense of each verb in French. But now you need to know which verbs will use avoir and which will use être. An easy way I can explain this to you is this…Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp. Each of the letters from the good Dr. and his wife are the first letter of a verb that uses être as the helping verb to form the le Passé Composé of that verb. M. Bridgeo

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed? Here is a list of the majority of verbs that use être as the helping verb to form the Past Indefinite tense…and you’ll have to memorize these or find another way to study them so you’ll know them Devenir devenu (e) Revenir revenu (e) & Monter monté (e) Rentrer rentré (e) Sortir sorti (e) Venir venu (e) Arriver arrivé (e) Naître né(e) Descendre descendu (e) Entrer entré (e) Rester resté (e) Tomber tombé (e) Retourner retourné (e) Aller allé (e) Mourir mort (e) Partir parti (e) Let’s see that in action M. Bridgeo

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed? We will use the verb Arriver (to arrive) as an example, as it one of the verbs that is conjugated with the helping verb être… Arriver Je suis arrivé (e) Tu es arrivé (e) Il est arrivé Elle est arrivée Nous sommes arrivé(e)s Vous êtes arrivé(e)(s) Ils sont arrivés Elles sont arrivées You arrived early. (where ‘you’ is masculine) Tu es arrivé tôt. You arrived early (where ‘you’ is feminine) Tu es arrivée tôt. They arrived early. (where ‘they’ is masculine) Ils sont arrivés tôt. They arrived early. (where ‘they’ is feminine) Elles sont arrivées tôt. arrivé; not feminine, not plural arrivée; feminine, not plural arrivés; masculine, plural arrivées; feminine, plural M. Bridgeo

Exercise 1: The Past Tense Directions: Conjugate each of the following verbs into the Past Tense. Parler, nous nous avons parlé Passer, tu tu as passé Arriver, vous (an older man) vous êtes arrivé Entre, vous (3 women) vous êtes entrées Marcher, elle elle a marché Tomber, Elles elles sont tombées Communiquer, je j’ai communiqué Tomber, il il est tombé Retourner, nous (you and four girls) nous sommes retournés/retournées Marcher, il Il a marché M. Bridgeo

- Er verbs: Future Tense The Future Tense (le Futur Proche) is a compound tense…and the helping verb is always the verb Aller (to go) in the Present Tense. All you do, to indicate an action in the future, is use the Present Tense of the verb Aller and the immediately add the verb for the action you wish to express in the future. Take a look at this example, using the verb Parler (to talk): Parler (to talk) Aller + Verb Je vais parler (I am going to talk) Tu vas parler (You are going to talk) Il va parler (He is going to talk) Nous allons parler (We are going to talk) Vous allez parler (They/You are going to talk) Ils vont parler (They are going to talk) M. Bridgeo

Exercise 1: The Future Tense Directions: Conjugate each of the following verbs into the Future Tense. Parler, nous nous allons parler Passer, tu tu vas passer Arriver, vous vous allez arriver Entrer, vous vous allez entrer Marcher, elle elle va marcher Aller, Elles elles vont aller Communiquer, je je vais communiquer Tomber, il il va tomber Retourner, nous (you and four girls) nous allons retourner Marcher, il Il va marcher M. Bridgeo

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