French Verb Jargon

Verb = an action/doing word (including existence)

E.g. eat, jump, run, play, etc. 

Infinitive = simplest verb form, in the form of ‘to [verb]’. 

E.g To eat, to jump, etc. 

Infinitive verbs can end in three ways: 

1. ~ER (i.e. aller -> to go) 
2. ~IR (i.e. sortir -> to go out)
3. ~RE (i.e. lire -> to read)

Conjugate = to change verb into a different tense

e.g. Present tense of ‘to play’ (jouer):

1. I play = je joue 
2. You play = je joues
3. He/She plays = il/elle joue
4. We play = nous jouons
5. You (formal/plural) play = vous jouez
6. They play = ils/elles jouent 

Regular Verb = conjugates according to a pattern. 

(‘Jouer’ is a regular verb)

Irregular Verb = doesn’t conjugate to a pattern (have to learn them off-by-heart)

e.g. Aller = to go, is an IRREGULAR ‘ER’ verb. Conjugating to present tense: 

1. I go = je vais 
2. You go = tu vas
3. He/She goes = il/elle va
4. We go = nous allons
5. You (formal/plural) go = vous allez
6. They go = ils/elles vont 

 

Just a quick crash course in the French verb terminologies.

À bientôt! ^.- )/ (See you later!)