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

- 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 M. Bridgeo

- 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) M. Bridgeo

- 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) M. Bridgeo

- ir verbs: Present Tense Let's try some exercises 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 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 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 –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 M. Bridgeo

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 M. Bridgeo

- ir verbs: Past Tense Let's try some exercises 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): 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) M. Bridgeo

- ir verbs: Past Tense Let's try an exercise using Futur Proche M. Bridgeo

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