Conjugation is the variation in the endings of verbs (inflections) depending on the person (I, you, we, etc), tense (present, future, etc.)
The third group is simply all the remaining verbs and is as a result rich in patterns and exceptions.
This article follows the classification verb by verb of the Dictionary of the Academie Francaise[1] though better descriptions of the three group system are to be found on the site of Le Figaro,[2] in a short article published by the Academy of Montpellier[3] or on the Quebec government page[4] The third group is a closed class,[5] meaning that no new verbs of this group may be introduced to the French language.
The moods are: indicative (indicatif), subjunctive (subjonctif), conditional (conditionnel) and imperative (impératif).
There are some cases where a form similar but not identical to the present participle is used for the verbal adjective.
There are two auxiliary verbs in French: avoir (to have) and être (to be), used to conjugate compound tenses according to these rules: Compound tenses are conjugated with an auxiliary followed by the past participle, ex: j'ai fait (I did), je suis tombé (I fell).
The participle is inflected with the use of the verb avoir according to the direct object, but only if the direct object precedes the participle, ex: As stand-alone verbs, the conjugation of the two auxiliaries is listed in the appendix at the end of the article.
Still with both a regular stem and ending there are issues of spelling to be accounted for such that the inflected word should have the right pronunciation.
Such cases are listed in the table following, again with the irregular occurrences highlighted in bold.
Similarly conjugated verbs: se départir "divest", repartir "leave again", dormir "sleep", s'endormir "fall asleep", se rendormir "fall back asleep", mentir "lie (tell lies)", démentir "contradict", sentir "feel", consentir "agree", pressentir "foresee", ressentir "feel", servir "serve", desservir "clear away", resservir "serve again", sortir "go out", ressortir "come back" Similar: dévêtir "undress", revêtir "cover" Similar: couvrir "cover", découvrir "discover", offrir "offer", souffrir "suffer" Similar: échoir "befall" Similar: attendre "wait", défendre "defend", descendre "go down", entendre "hear", étendre "extend", fondre "melt", pendre "hang", perdre "lose", prétendre "pretend", rendre "return, give back", répandre "spill", répondre "respond", etc.
Similar: convaincre "convince" Similar: contraire "contract", extraire "extract", soustraire "subtract", retraire "withdraw" Infinitive: recevoir "receive" INF: recev- 1S: reçoi- 1P: recev- 3P: reçoiv- FUT: recevr- PP: reçu- PAST: reçu- Present participle: recev-ant Past participle: reçu There are nine verbs which have an irregular subjunctive stem.
The paradigm taking into account the subjunctive stem is shown in the following table.
In addition SUBJ stands for first person singular present subjunctive stem.
In the present, not only are there stem changes, but the inflections are irregular as well: 1 Notice that the imperative form uses the subjunctive conjugation.
In the simple present, not only are there stem changes, but the inflections are irregular as well: 1 The imperative form uses the subjunctive conjugation.
The non-finite forms use the stem êt- /ɛt/ (before a consonant)/ét- /et/ (before a vowel): Auxiliary verb: avoir The verb aller means "to go" and is sufficiently irregular that it merits listing its conjugation in full.
However, in the simple present, not only are there stem changes, but the inflections are irregular as well: The non-finite forms are all based on all- : Auxiliary verb: être 1 In Classical French and even in certain dialects (like in Cajun and some Quebec dialects) je vas is used.