General Conjugation Patterns

Question 1

How do you form the indicatif présent of regular -er verbs?

Answer 1

Drop -er and add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent.

Question 2

How do you form the indicatif présent of regular -ir verb?

Answer 2

Drop -ir and add -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent.

Question 3

How do you form the indicatif présent of regular -re verb?

Answer 3

Drop -re and add -s, -s, -, -ons, -ez, -ent.

Question 4

How do you form the indicatif imparfait of all verbs other than être?

Answer 4

Take the nous form in the indicatif présent form, drop the ending -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, and -aient.

Note that être has the irregular stem êt-.

Question 5

How do you form the indicatif futur of regular verbs?

Answer 5

Add the following endings to the whole infinitive, but for -re verbs drop the e in -re before adding: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.

Verbs like acheter and essayer use the third person singular form (plus the -r infinitive ending) of the present tense rather than the infinitive as the future stem.

• essayer/il essaie/j’essaierai, nous essaierons*
• acheter/il achète/j’achèterai, nous achèterons*

Question 6

How do you form the conditionnel présent of all verbs?

Answer 6

Add the following endings to the future stem of the verb, but for -re verbs drop the e in -re before adding: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Note that these are identical to the endings for indicatif imparfait.

Note that verbs that have irregular stems in the future tense have the same irregular stem in the conditional.

Question 7

How do you form the subjonctif présent of regular verbs?

Answer 7

Drop the -ent ending from the third person plural of the present indicative and add the following endings: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent.

Question 8

How do you form the following compound tenses?

1. indicatif - passé composé
2. indicatif - plus-que-parfait
3. indicatif - futur antérieur
4. conditionnel - passé
5. subjonctif - passé

Answer 8

Take avoir or être in the following simple tenses and add the past participle of the verb you are conjugating.

1. indicatif - présent
2. indicatif - imparfait
3. indicatif - futur
4. conditionnel - présent
5. subjonctif - présent

Question 9

What forms of the verb sound identical in the imparfait?

Answer 9

The singular forms and the third person plural form sound identical.

• je parlais*
• tu parlais*
• il parlait*
• ils parlaient*
• nous parlions*
• vous parliez*

Question 10

What forms of the verb sound identical in the future?

Answer 10

The second and third person singular forms sound identical.

• tu parleras*
• il parlera*

The first person singular and the second person plural sound identical.

• je parlerai*
• vous parlerez*

The first and third person plurals sound identical.

• nous parlerons*
• ils parleront*

Question 11

What forms of the verb sound identical in the conditional?

Answer 11

The singular forms and the third person plural form sound identical.

• je parlerais*
• tu parlerais*
• il parlerait*
• ils parleraient*
• nous parlerions*
• vous parleriez*

Question 12

What forms of the verb sound identical in the present subjunctive?

Answer 12

The singular forms and the third person plural form sound identical.

• je parle*
• tu parles*
• il parle*
• ils parlent*
• nous parlions*
• vous parliez*