Posts tagged with "French verbs"

Let’s Talk About Verbs – Venir

Posted by Transparent Language 6 Comments
Oct 6 2009

Je viens de mettre mes filles au lit. I have just put my girls in bed.

Venir de conjugated in the present tense and followed by the infinitive is the equivalent of to have just + past participle.

Elle vient d’arriver. (She has just arrived.)
Ils viennent de faire leurs devoirs. (They have just done their homework.)

It is an irregular -ir verb and is conjugated in the present tense like this:

je viens
tu viens
il/elle/on vient
nous venons
vous venez
ils/elles viennent

There are other verbs that are conjugated in the present tense in the same way; in other words, with the same suffixes, and they are: devenir (to become), revenir (to come back), se souvenir de (to remember), tenir (to hold) and obtenir (to obtain).

Why don’t you give us an example sentence using one of these verbs in a comment!

Let’s Talk About French Verbs Once Again

Posted by Transparent Language 3 Comments
Sep 6 2009

Today, we’ll begin talking about the past…the French past tense that is.  What does imparfait mean?  Well, let’s find out!

First of all, Le Robert Micro (my favorite French-French dictionary) defines the adjective imparfait as qui n’est pas achevé, pas complet; or in other words, something that is incomplete.  The definition it gives for the noun imparfait is “temps du verbe ayant essentiellement pour fonction d’énoncer une action en voie d’accomplissement dans le passé et conçue comme non achevée“.  To sum this up, it is the verb tense that describes an action in the past that is not considered to have been completed.  It is often referred to as a descriptive tense.

So, how is it formed?

It is regular for all verbs.  You take the stem from the 1st person plural (nous) of the present indicative and add -ais, -ais, ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

So, for the verb chanter, for example, the conjugation would be like this:
Nous chant-ons → je chantais, tu chantais, il/elle/on chantait, nous chantions, vous chantiez, ils/elles chantaient.

And for the verb finir, for example, the conjugation would be like this:
Nous finiss-ons → je finissais, tu finissais, il/elle/on finissait, nous finissions, vous finissiez, ils/elles finissaient.

And for the verb vouloir, for example, the conjugation would be like this:
Nous voul-ons →je voulais, tu voulais, il/elle/on voulait, nous voulions, vous vouliez, ils/elles voulaient.

Mais, attention ! There is an exception to this rule as the verb être is conjugated like this: J’étais, tu étais, il/elle/on était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils/elles étaient.

So, how do we use the imperfect?

Just like the present in French, the imperfect indicates an action that is in the course of being accomplished.  However, there are no specific limits.  We do not know when the action began or when it will end, it’s just a circumstance of another event.  It is used in descriptions like comments, explanations, etc.

Ex : Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti. (It was raining when I went out.)

Alice portait une robe rouge. (Alice wore a red dress.)

Monsieur Delcourt n’a pas pu participer à cette réunion parce qu’il était en voyage. (Mr. Delcourt was not able to participate in this meeting because he was on a trip.)

You can use the imperfect for things like talking about the time in the past (Il était 6 heures de l’après-midi, le vendredi quand on a frappé à ma porte).

You can also describe places or settings.  (J’étais dans la rue.  La police nous bloquait.)

You can also describe what the people were like in a story or explanation using the imperfect tense.  (Nous nous sentions très forts.)

So, in other words, you use the imperfect tense to describe physical and emotional descriptions like time, weather, age and feelings and also for actions or states with no specific duration.  Often these background descriptions and actions are used in conjunction with the passé composé.  And, be careful as the actual series of events (one after another) will be written in the passé composé.

You can also use the imperfect to express habitual actions or events in the past (usually you will see some kind of time indication in this case).  For example:
Pendant les vacances mon père nous faisait tous les jours des crêpes. (While on vacation, my father made us crepes every day.)

When you see the imperfect used with the conjunction si, this is not used to express the past.  It expresses a hypothesis or unreal situation; in other words, conditions, wishes or suggestions.  For example:
Si nous avions une voiture, nous pourrions aller visiter les monuments en province. (If we had a car, we could go visit the monuments outside Paris.)

Ah, si j’avais encore dix-huit ans! (Oh, if I were eighteen again!)

Finally, the imperfect is used as a way to express politeness with the verb vouloir.  Example:
Excusez-moi de vous déranger; je voulais vous demander un renseignement. (Excuse me for bothering you; I wanted to ask you for some information.)

You can see that it is a bit difficult to give one translation for imperfect structures in English.  Sometimes, we use the past continuous and sometimes the simple past to translate the meaning it conveys.

Falloir

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Sep 30 2008

The United States is famous in Europe for being prohibitive despite its status as a nation of freedom.  I have tried again and again to explain to my French and other European friends that one’s freedom in the United States ends when their acts fringe upon another’s freedom.  In any case, the French version of freedom is very liberal as compared to American standards.  So, let’s discuss a verb that can be used to explain in French the differences in these freedoms…in other words what ‘is necessary’ and what ‘must/mustn’t be done’.  This would be the verb falloir.

Here is how you conjugate this verb:

Il faut insister.  (You must insist.)
Il ne faut pas insister.  (You must not insist.)

Hmm…you are thinking, ‘where are the other conjugations???’  Well, falloir is an impersonal verb so it is only conjugated in the 3rd person singular.

So, here are some typical ‘must nots’ in the United States that my French friends ‘complain’ about:
Il ne faut pas fumer. (You must not smoke.)
Il ne faut pas faire du topless à la plage.  (You must not go topless on the beach.) 

And here is a typical ‘must’ in the United States:
Il faut avoir 21 ans pour pouvoir boire de l’alcool.  (You must be 21 to drink alcohol.) 

Conversely, here are some cultural ‘must nots’ in France:
Il ne faut pas parler à voix haute en public.  (You must not speak loudly in public.)
Il ne faut pas demander des questions personnelles.  (You must not ask personal questions.)

And some cultural ‘musts’ in France:
Il faut couper le fromage en parts égales.  (You must cut cheese in equal parts.)
Il faut donner le bonjour à tout le monde.  (You must say ‘good day’ to everyone.)

And finally, here are some more useful expressions with falloir.

Un homme comme il faut (the right kind of man)
Il fallait le dire (you should have said so!)
Il faut deux heures (it takes two hours)
Il leur a fallu quatre heures (it took them four hours)
Il te faut du repos (you need some rest)
Il ne faut pas se fier à cette fille (you must not trust this girl)
Il s’en faut de cent euros (there’s a shortage of a hundred euros)

Est-ce que vous pensez qu’il faut étudier la grammaire pour bien apprendre le français?

Let’s Talk About Verbs

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Sep 18 2008

Verbs in French can be used alone or be followed by an object, a complement, a subordinate phrase or another verb.

Here is an example of a verb used alone:
Je lis.

Here is an example of a verb followed by an object:
Je fais de la natation.

Here is an example of a verb followed by a complement:
Je suis mariée.

Here is an example of a verb followed by a subordinate phrase:
Je pense que l’espagnol est plus facile.

And here is an example of a verb followed by another verb:
Je ne voulais pas manger.

Now, a verb that stands alone is called an intransitive verb meaning that it does not have an object.   (Intransitive verb = No object)

Here are some examples:
Le soleil brillait. (Subject + Verb)
Ne pars pas! (only a Verb since it’s a command/imperative)

Remember, a verb can also be followed by an object which means it would be called a transitive verb. (Transitive verb = Object)
This can be a direct object meaning that the action happens directly to the object without any preposition in the middle.  Ex:
Je prends mon temps. (Subject + Verb + Direct Object)
J’aime les biscuits et le chocolat. (Subject + Verb + Direct Object)

It could also be an indirect object meaning that the action happens indirectly to the object with a preposition in the middle (à or de). Ex:
J’ai parlé à mon mari. (Subject + Verb + Indirect Object)
Je m’occupe de mes enfants. (Subject + Verb + Indirect Object)

And as I said a verb can be followed by a complement for example an adjective, noun or a past participle used as an adjective.
These are some of the verbs that are followed in this way:

être, avoir l’air, devenir, mourir, naître, paraître, sembler, rester, tomber, vivre, etc.

Examples:
Mes yeux sont bleus. (Subject + Verb + Adjective)
Je suis maman. (Subject + Verb + Noun)
Elle est devenue guérie. (Subject + Verb + Past Participle)

I also mentioned how a verb can be followed by another verb, right?

When you use one of these verbs – aimer, entendre, oser, sembler, aller, espérer, penser, souhaiter, désirer, faire, préférer, valoir, détester, faillir, pouvoir, voir, devoir, falloir, regarder, vouloir, écouter, laisser, savoir, etc. – the second verb phrase is usually an infinitive…
J’aime danser. (Subject + Verb + Infinitive)
Ma mère semblait ne pas savoir. (Subject + Verb + Infinitive)

..or you use the preposition à plus an infinitive for one of these verbs – s’amuser, s’habituer, tenir, arriver, hésiter, commencer, apprendre, se mettre, penser, chercher, parvenir, continuer, se décider, réussir, etc.
Ex:
J’apprends à parler bien. (Subject + Verb + Preposition + Infinitive)
Ma petite fille arrive à s’habiller toute seule. (Subject + Verb + Preposition + Infinitive)

…or the preposition de plus an infinitive for one of these verbs – accepter, arrêter, avoir besoin, avoir envie, avoir peur, cesser, choisir, commencer, continuer, craindre, décider, se dépêcher, essayer, éviter, faire exprès, finir, oublier, refuser, regretter, risquer, tâcher, tenter, etc.
Ex:
J’ai peur de ne pas savoir. (Subject + Verb + Preposition + Infinitive)
Arrête de faire des bêtises ! (Subject + Verb + Preposition + Infinitive)

And finally, I mentioned that a verb can be followed by a subordinate phrase.  Here are some examples:
J’ai dit que les verbes sont compliqués.
Je ne sais pas si mon mari a fait les courses.

There is much more such as verbs followed by two objects or by an object and an infinitive, but for now, these are some basic verb structures you can get started with.  Qu’est-ce que j’aime la grammaire!

Back to the Top