French Verbs Book

This 13-page guide gives English speakers a structured overview of French verbs, from the three conjugation groups to the subjunctive and imperative. Conjugation tables use three model verbs, parler, finir, and vendre, so you can compare the patterns across tenses, and an answer key at the end lets you check the exercises.

Three models for regular verbs

French verbs fall into three groups, and the guide builds almost every table around one example from each:

• Parler for the first group, verbs in -er, the largest and most regular.
• Finir for the second group, -ir verbs that add -iss- in the plural: nous finissons, ils finissent.
• Vendre for regular -re verbs within the third group, which also contains irregular verbs such as être, avoir, aller, and faire.

Following one model through the present, imparfait, subjunctive, and imperative shows how much of the system repeats.

Être or avoir: Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp

The passé composé section explains that most verbs use avoir (J'ai parlé, Ils ont travaillé toute la journée) while verbs of movement and all pronominal verbs use être (Elle est arrivée en retard, Ils se sont amusés). To remember the être verbs, the guide uses the classic English mnemonic Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp and lists fifteen of them, including aller, venir, partir, arriver, rentrer, naître, mourir, tomber, and rester.

With être, the participle agrees with the subject: Elle est arrivée, Nous sommes partis. The guide lists forgetting this agreement among the most common mistakes.

How each tense is formed

Irregular future stems such as ser-, aur-, ir-, fer-, viendr-, and verr- are listed separately, and the same stems give the conditional: je serais, j'irais. For the imperative of -er verbs, note that the tu form drops the final s: Parle plus fort!

When the subjunctive is required

The guide lists five triggers with examples: emotion (Je suis content que tu viennes), doubt, will, certain conjunctions (Bien qu'il soit difficile), and superlatives (C'est le meilleur livre que je connaisse). A useful contrast to add: espérer is followed by the indicative, so J'espère qu'il viendra uses the future, not the subjunctive.

Modal verbs and two ways to know

Section 9 gives the present of devoir, pouvoir, and vouloir and separates savoir (facts and skills: Je sais cuisiner) from connaître (people and places: Je connais Paris).

Practice with an answer key

The three exercises cover present conjugation (including the irregular prendre), choosing avoir or être, and transforming sentences into the passé composé. All answers are provided. The last item is instructive: Nous dormons bien becomes Nous avons bien dormi, with the adverb placed between the auxiliary and the participle.

Coverage

It is written for learners in their first year or two of French. It does not include the plus-que-parfait, the passé simple, or compound forms of the conditional and subjunctive, and the present of avoir is best memorised as j'ai, with the elision that the table omits.