Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Advanced French Verb Conjugation
Advanced French Verb Conjugation Conjugation refers to the five possible inflections of a verb: Person, Number, Mood, Tense, and Voice. Once youve made a choice from each of these five, you have a conjugation or inflection. For example:Verb - parlerPerson - first personNumber - singularMood - indicativeTense - presentVoice - active je parleVerb - allerPerson - third personNumber - pluralMood - subjunctiveTense - presentVoice - active quils aillentWhen conjugating a French verb, the first things to figure out are the tense and mood, which work hand-in-hand. All moods have at least two tenses (present and past) out of the possible 8 (only the indicative has all 8). The verb timeline lists moods horizontally and tenses vertically.The indicative is the most common mood and is normally not stated. When you talk about the passà © composà ©, the imperfect, or the present tense, for example, you mean of the indicative mood. Its only with other moods like subjunctive and conditional that the mood is stated explicitly.All m oods have a present tense, which is again not made explicit except in the indicative and participle (parentheses indicate what normally goes unsaid): present (indicative)(present) conditional(present) subjunctive(present) imperative(present) infinitivepresent participle So for example, the imperfect (indicative) and the imperfect subjunctive are two different moods of the same tense. On the other hand, the (present) conditional and the past conditional are two different tenses of the same mood. The verb timeline can help you understand this, because it lines up moods and tenses so that you can see how they all fit together. X axis Y axis verb form and basis of individual conjugations. Voil - now that you understand the basics of French verb conjugation, study the lessons on individual tenses and moods (linked from the verb timeline) to learn more, or visit my French grammar glossary. Tricky Subjects When you understand subject pronouns, tenses, moods, and how to conjugate French verbs, youre in great shape. There are however some grammatical subjects which make conjugation a bit more difficult. Multiple Subjects When you have more than one subject, you have to figure out which subject pronouns would replace that group and then conjugate the verb accordingly. For example, toi et moi would be replaced by nous, as would David et moi. Toi et lui and Michel et toi would be replaced by vous. Lui et elle or Marc et Anne would be replaced by ils. The trick is to make this replacement in your head without actually saying it out loud, as denoted by the (parentheses):   Toi et moi (nous) pouvons le faire   You and I can do it   Paul, Marie et moi (nous) mangeons   Paul, Marie, and I are eating   Toi et elle (vous) à ªtes en retard   You and she are late   Sophie et toi (vous) devez partir   You and Sophie have to leave   Luc et sa femme (ils) sont arrivà ©s   Luc and his wife have arrived   Lui et elle (ils) lisent beaucoup   He and she read a lot Subject +Object Pronoun In a construction with an object pronoun, usually nous or vous, there is sometimes a tendency to conjugate the verb according to it, rather than to the subject pronoun, because the object directly precedes the verb. Though this tends to be a careless mistake made orally rather than a lack of understanding, its included here just as a little reminder.   Je vous ai donnà © la liste   I gave you the list   xx Je vous avez donnà © la liste xx   Vous nous avez menti   You lied to us   xx Vous nous avons menti xx Cest... qui The construction cest  stressed pronoun  qui makes many people - including at times native French speakers - want to use the third person singular verb conjugation because of qui. But this is incorrect; in fact, the conjugation has to agree with the pronoun.   Cest moi qui ai gagnà ©Ã‚   Its me that won   xx Cest moi qui a gagnà © xx   Cest vous qui avez tort   Youre the one whos wrong   xx Cest vous qui a tort xx   Cest nous qui allons le faire   Were the ones who are going to do it   xx Cest nous qui va le faire xx Pronoun + Qui Similar to the cest... qui construction is a subject or demonstrative pronoun  qui. Again, the qui makes people want to use the third person singular, but once again the conjugation has to agree with the pronoun.   Vous qui avez mangà © pouvez partir   Those of you who have eaten may leave   xx Vous qui a mangà © pouvez partir xx   Ceux qui veulent aider doivent me voir   Those who want to help need to see me   xx Ceux qui veut aider doivent me voir xx   Je cherche celles qui à ©tudient   Im looking for the ones who are studying   xx Je cherche celles qui à ©tudie xx Collective Subjects Collective subjects can take the third person singular or plural:    Un tas de fleurs sont mortes / Un tas de fleurs est mort   A bunch of flowers died   Un grand nombre de livres ont disparu / Un grand nombre de livres a disparu   A large number of books disappeared Adverbs of Quantity Adverbs of quantity take the third person singular or plural, depending on the number of the noun that follows:    Beaucoup dà ©tudiants sont arrivà ©s   A lot of students have arrived   Peu de pluie est tombà ©e   Little rain fell   Combien de livres y a-t-il ?   How many books are there?Also see ...dentre... below. Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns always take a third person conjugation (either singular or plural, depending on the number of the pronoun).   La plupart a dà ©cidà ©Ã‚   Most have decided   Plusieurs sont perdus   Many are lost   Tout le monde est l   Everyone is thereAlso see ...dentre... ...dentre... When an adverb of quantity or indefinite pronoun is followed by entre  personal pronoun, many non-native French speakers (including myself) want to conjugate the verb according to the personal pronoun. But this is incorrect - in this construction, the verb has to be conjugated to agree with what comes before entre, not what comes after.   Certains dentre vous ont oublià ©Ã‚   Some of you forgot   xx Certains dentre vous avez oublià © xx   Beaucoup dentre nous sont en retard   Many of us are late   xx Beaucoup dentre nous sommes en retard xx   Chacun dentre vous peut le faire   Each one of you can do it   xx Chacun dentre vous pouvez le faire xx
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