French verbs made simple (r)

French Verbs Made Simple(r)

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David Brodsky

French

VERBS

Simple(r)

University of Texas Press Austin

MADE

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Copyright © 2006 by the University of Texas Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

First edition, 2006

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:

Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819

www.utexas.edu /utpress/about /bpermission.html

The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of

ANSI / NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brodsky, David, 1950 –

French verbs made simple(r) / David Brodsky.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-292-71472-4

ISBN-10: 0-292-71472-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. French language—Verb. 2. French language— Textbooks for foreign speakers—

English. I. Title: French verbs made simple. II. Title: French verbs made simpler.

III. Title.

PC2271.B76 2006

448.2
421— dc22 2005030902

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For Daniel, Michael, and Beatriz

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Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 1

PART I. FORMS OF VERBS

1. Present Tense 11

2. Imperfect Tense and Present Participle 39

3. Past Participle 45

4. Simple Past (Passé Simple) 55

5. Future and Conditional Tenses 63

6. Subjunctive and Imperative 69

7. Compound Verb Forms 77

8. Orthographic Modifications 83

9. Summary 96

PART II. USES OF VERBS

10. Indicative 103

11. Present and Past Subjunctive 137

12. Simple Past and Imperfect Subjunctive 163

PART III. ANNEXES

A. Model Verbs, with Complete Conjugations 175

B. Alphabetical Listing of 6,200 Verbs by Model Number 245

C. Defective Verbs 319

Selected References 329

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Preface

The fundamental aim of this book is to provide:

(a) easily understood—yet comprehensive—tools to recognize and learn the

patterns that govern the large majority of “irregular” verbs in French; and

(b) clear and systematic illustrations of the use of all the principal French verb

forms, with particular emphasis on the subjunctive.

It is intended both for the relatively new student grappling with the apparent

complexities of French verbs and for the more advanced practitioner seeking to

“perfect” his or her understanding.

The book is divided into three parts, which to a certain extent are independent:

Part I provides a description of the various verb tenses and forms, with a fo￾cus on establishing patterns and rules which can assist in learning (and remem￾bering) the conjugations of the so-called Class III (irregular) verbs. Chapter 8

provides a comprehensive treatment of the regular orthographic changes which

affect approximately 15 percent of-er (Class I) verbs. For example:

tu appelles versus tu appelais

je cède versus nous cédons

je pèse versus nous pesons

je lance versus nous lançons

il emploie versus vous employez

Chapter 9 provides an overall summary of verb forms and shows that (at most)

six key conjugations determine the complete conjugation of any verb. The few

exceptions are specifically highlighted.

Part II illustrates the use of the various verb tenses and forms. Special consid￾eration is given to two of the thorniest problems for students of French: (1)

whether a verb is to be conjugated with avoir orêtre; and (2) the conditions under

which the past participle is variable (e.g., Marie s’est lavée, Marie s’est lavé les

mains, les mains que Marie s’est lavées). Chapter 11 is devoted to the use of the sub￾junctive. While no longer an element of spoken French, the passé simple remains

an important element of the written language, and its use is covered in Chapter 12.

Annexes: By reviewing Annex A, the student can become familiar with

the various “model” verbs (or classes) and their unifying features. Complete

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conjugations are presented for each of the models, including those displaying

purely orthographic modifications. The key elements for each are highlighted,

and all other verbs with analogous conjugations are explicitly identified. A sum￾mary table provides in concise form all of the key elements required to conjugate

completely all French verbs. Annex B provides an alphabetical index of 6,200

verbs, showing the model class to which each verb belongs. Annex C presents the

conjugations of “defective” verbs, which exist in only a limited number of forms.

A more advanced student has the option of reading the book sequentially or

“à la carte”. A student at a more elementary level may find it preferable to con￾centrate initially on those chapters dealing with the indicative (excluding the

passé simple)—both forms and uses—before moving on to the subjunctive and

then to the passé simple. In this case the following order of chapters is suggested:

1–3, 5 indicative verb forms, other than passé simple

7 compound verb forms

8 orthographic modifications

9 summary and presentation of verb classes

10 uses of indicative

6 subjunctive and imperative forms

11 uses of subjunctive

4 simple past (passé simple)

12 use of simple past and imperfect subjunctive

Alternatively, the relatively new student may wish to concentrate initially on the

presentation of verbs and verb forms in Annexes A and B, before venturing into

the more analytical presentations in Parts I and II.

x FRENCH VERBS MADE SIMPLE(R)

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French Verbs Made Simple(r)

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Introduction

The structure of French verbs is not difficult to comprehend for a native English

speaker, since most of the forms parallel or are very close in meaning to those

employed in English. One seeming major difference is that French employs two

“moods”: the indicative and the subjunctive. The mood of the verb does not refer

(at least directly) to the mood of the speaker but rather to the type of statement

that he or she is making. The indicative can be thought of as the “normal” verb

mood (or mode), while the subjunctive is used in a number of special circum￾stances—in connection with orders, desires, uncertainty, etc. Contrary to what

many might think, the subjunctive also exists in English, though its existence

generally passes unnoticed, since subjunctive and indicative verb forms in Mod￾ern English are almost always the same. But a sentence like

I insist that he be punished

provides an illustration that there is at times a difference between the two.

In addition to the indicative and subjunctive, there is a third verbal “mood”

in both French and English—the imperative (e.g., “Go!” “Run!”).

For any English verb there are essentially only five “simple” forms:

infinitive (to) write

present write(s)

past wrote

past participle written

present participle writing

All other verb forms are compound ones created from the simple ones by us￾ing various auxiliaries or “helping” verbs (e.g., I was writing, I will write, I would

have written). For French, there are eleven simple verb forms—the five English

ones, plus:

indicative subjunctive imperative

imperfect present present

future imperfect

conditional

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2 FRENCH VERBS MADE SIMPLE(R)

Each French verb has 48 basic “simple” conjugations. For example, for the verb

parler (“to speak”):

infinitive parler

present indicative parle, parles, parle, parlons, parlez, parlent

imperfect parlais, parlais, parlait, parlions, parliez, parlaient

simple past parlai, parlas, parla, parlâmes, parlâtes, parlèrent

past participle parlé

present participle parlant

future parlerai, parleras, parlera, parlerons, parlerez, parleront

conditional parlerais, parlerais, parlerait, parlerions, parleriez,

parleraient

present subjunctive parle, parles, parle, parlions, parliez, parlent

imperfect subjunctive parlasse, parlasses, parlât, parlassions, parlassiez, parlassent

imperative parle, parlons, parlez (you singular, we, you plural)

In addition there are a number ofcompound verb forms, most with close English

counterparts.

The French future and conditional tenses are each equivalent to very specific

English compound forms (I will write, I would write). For the imperfect tense,

there is no one-to-one correspondence with a specific English verb form, which

probably is why among the various indicative verb forms it often causes the great￾est difficulty.

The table below illustrates basic English equivalents for the simple and prin￾cipal compound French indicative verb forms. In each case the name in boldface

(e.g., simple past) is the name by which the form will be referred to through￾out the text; for several of the forms, common alternative names are shown in

parentheses.

SIMPLE FORMS (INDICATIVE)

infinitive To live is to love.

present He writes in the book.

simple past(preterite) He wrote a book about Shakespeare (in 1974).

imperfect When I was young I played baseball every day.

When the phone rang I was leaving the house.

future Someday I will write a book about Shakespeare.

conditional If I were not so lazy, I would write a book about

Shakespeare.

present participle I saw your brothercrossing the street.

past participle The book, written in the Middle Ages, is now in the

British Museum.

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