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Things to remember:- These verbs are regular but can easily be mistaken for irregular verbs.
- Remember the difference between the conjucations of:
- Verbs with an infinitive ending in –endre.
- Verbs which have double consonants in their infinitive.
- Pay attention to which form the 3rd person singular is going to take in the present tense.
The 3rd group of verbs:
Remember their form:
| Rendre (to give back) |
| Je rend – S |
| Tu rend – S |
| Il rend |
| Nous rend – ONS |
| Vous rend – EZ |
| Ils rend – ENT |
These verbs are regular but can easily be mistaken for irregular verbs.
Note that they are also subject to a few transformations and you will need to be aware of the exceptions to the rule.
- Verbs with an infinitive ending in –endre Verbs with an infinitive ending in –RE such as: Vendre – to sell, tendre – to hold on to, pretender – to pretend, well verbs with –endre as the last part of their infinitive follow this conjugation:
Vendre (to sell) Tendre - to hold on to Je vend -S Je tend -S Tu vend -S Tu tend -S Il vend -
Il tend - Nous vend -ONS Nous tend -ONS Vous vend -EZ Vous tend -EZ Ils vend -ENT Ils tend -ENT
- Be also aware of the verbs which have double consonants in their infinitive. For example:
| Mettre (to put) |
| Je met -S |
| Tu met -S |
| Il met - |
| Nous mett -ONS |
| Vous mett -EZ |
| Ils mett -ENT |
- It is sometimes difficult to find out which form the 3rd person singular is going to take in the present tense. Take the verb “Rire” to laugh:
- Its stem or radical is RI – and in the present tense of the indicative mood it is conjugated as:
| Rire (to laugh) |
| Je ri -S |
| Tu ri -S |
| Il ri -T |
| Nous ri -ONS |
| Vous ri -EZ |
| Ils ri -ENT |
The most common mistake is to think that you need to put a D as the ending of the 3rd person of the singular. It is a T in fact so keep on laughing and improve your French!
Let's now take a look at the next section: Irregular Verbs