1. Regular – ir verbs in the Present, Past, and Future Tenses
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2. - ir verbs: Present Tense
The majority of all –ir verbs in French, in the Present Tense, have the same endings for je, tu, il (elle, on), nous, vous, ils (elles).
Je -is
Tu -is
Il -it
Nous -issons
Vous -issez
Ils -issent
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3. - ir verbs: Present Tense
To form your verb (to conjugate the verb) in the Present Tense, take off the –ir for je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, and Ils/elles and simply add those endings.
Je finis (I finish/am finished)
Tu finis (You finish/are finished)
Il finit (He finishes/is finished)
Nous finissons (We finish/are finished)
Vous finissez (They/You finish/are finished)
Ils finissent (They are finished)
Verbs that are similar in their conjugation
Choisir (to choose), établir (to establish) grandir (to grow/grow up),
grossir (to gain weight), maigrir (to lose weight),
mincir (to get slimmer), obéir (to obey),
réagir (to react), réussir (à), (to succeed)
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4. - ir verbs: Present Tense
There are some commonly used verbs in the French language, however, that are exceptions to this rule…
Ouvrir Partir Sortir Dormir
Je/J’ ouvre pars sors dors
Tu ouvres pars sors dors
Il/Elle ouvre part sort dort
Nous ouvrons partons sortons dormons
Vous ouvrez partez sortez dormez
Ils/Elles ouvrent partent sortent dorment
Verbs that are similar in their conjugation (like –er verbs)
Ouvrir: Couvrir (to cover), découvrir (to discover), offrir (to offer),
souffrir (to suffer)
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5. - ir verbs: Present Tense
Let's try some exercises
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6. 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…
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7. 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 Finir (to finish) in the Past Indefinite tense would be…
J’ai fini I finished Tu as fini You finished
Il a fini He finished
Nous avons fini We finished
Vous avez fini They/you finished
Ils ont fini They finished
The verb Finir 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 –ir verbs
…drop the
-er, and add –i
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8. 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 –ir verbs will use être.
Verb Past Participle
Devenir *devenu (e)
Revenir *revenu (e)
Sortir sorti (e)
Venir *venu (e)
Mourir *mort (e)
Partir parti (e)
* exception to the rule for Past Participle
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9. How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed?
We will use the verb Venir (to come) as an example, as it one of the verbs that is conjugated with the helping verb être…
Venir
Je suis venu (e)
Tu es venu (e)
Il est venu
Elle est venu (e)
Nous sommes venu(e)s
Vous êtes venu(e)(s)
Ils sont venus
Elles sont venus
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10. - ir verbs: Past Tense
Let's try some exercises
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11. - 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):
Mourir (to die)
Aller + Verb
Je vais mourir (I am going to talk)
Tu vas mourir (You are going to talk)
Il va mourir (He is going to talk)
Nous allons mourir (We are going to talk)
Vous allez mourir (They/You are going to talk)
Ils vont mourir (They are going to talk)
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12. - ir verbs: Past Tense Let's try an exercise using Futur Proche
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