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Things to Remember- Irregular verbs can have the infinitive endings -IR and -RE even though they don't belong to the 2nd or 3rd groups of regular verbs.
- Irregular verbs can have the infinitive ending -OIR.
- Verbs such as offrir (to offer) use the endings of the first group of regular verbs even if they don’t belong to it.
- The essential irregular verbs to learn are: Être – to be, Avoir – to have, Faire-to do/to make and Aller - to go
Unlike the regular verbs, these ones have more than one radical or stem when they are declined in one tense.
Irregular verbs can have the following infinitive ending:
The -IR Ending
This is quite tricky because they can easily be mistaken for the second group of regular verbs.
They do not have the extra –ISS- in the plural persons found with the regular verbs in the second group. These irregular verbs drop the last consonant of the stem in the infinite for the singular persons but they keep in for the plural.
Have a look:
| Partir (to leave) |
| Je par -S |
| Tu par -S |
| Il par -T |
| Nous part -ONS |
| Vous part -EZ |
| Ils part -ENT |
Exercise: Conjugate the Verb 'To Smell/Feel' (Sentir)
To make the matter even more interesting (or complicated) according to your like or dislike of the grammatical world, some of these verbs change their radical in more extremes ways:
Mourir (to die, obviously being a radical change in life, “mourir” had to behave in a radical manner too):
| Mourir (to die) |
| Je meur -S |
| Tu meur -S |
| Il meur -T |
| Nous mour -ONS |
| Vous mour -EZ |
| Ils meur -ENT |
Exercise: Conjugate the Verb 'To come' (Venir)
Exercise: Use the verb tenir (to hold/to hold on), and its expressions such
as tenir à (to value, to be keen on) in the given sentences.
Verbs such as offrir (to offer) use the endings of the first group of regular verbs even if they don’t belong to it :
| Partir (to leave) |
| J’offr -E |
| Tu offr -ES |
| Il offr -E |
| Nous offr -ONS |
| Vous offr -EZ |
| Ils offr -ENT |
The –oir ending can in fact be found in a variety of verbs which follow different rules:
- –voir
- –cevoir
- Modal verbs
1. -VOIR
These particular irregular verbs have a tendency to change the I into a Y:
Voir - (to see) Je voi –S Tu vois – S Il voi –T Nous voy -ONS Vous voy -EZ Ils voi -ENT 2.–CEVOIR
These ones need to take a cedilla. Have a look
Recevoir (to receive) Je reçoi -S Tu reçoi -S Il reçoi -T Nous recev -ONS Vous recev -EZ Ils reçoiv -ENT 3. Modal verbs
Modal verbs such as
- Devoir – to have to/must
- Pouvoir – to be able to/can
- Vouloir – to want
Devoir (to have to/must ) Je doi -S Tu peu -X Il veu -T Nous dev -ONS Vous pouv -EZ Ils veul -ENT
These verbs are irregular for the same reasons mentioned earlier: their radical or stem is altered as they get conjugated.
The fact that some of the verbs whose infinitive ends with RE are regular makes your task more complicated.
As you will see it’s a matter of memorizing these changes and alterations. The more you practise the more it will become second nature for you to spot these irregular verbs and use them adequately.
What happens with these particular verbs?
In general the radical receives an extra letter in the second and third persons of the plural. Let’s take the verb Croire (to believe) its stem changes from croi to croy in these persons:
| Croire (to believe) |
| Je croi -S |
| Tu croi -S |
| Il croi -T |
| Nous croy -ONS |
| Vous croy -EZ |
| Ils croi -ENY |
Another verb whose infinitive ends with –RE and has its radical affected is Lire (to read)
| Lire (to read) |
| Je li -S |
| Tu li -S |
| Il li -S |
| Nous lis -ONS |
| Vous lis -EZ |
| Ils lis -ENT |
With écrire (to write) there is another change in the radical:
| Écrire (to write) |
| J’écri -S |
| Tu écri -S |
| Il écri -T |
| Nous écriv -ONS |
| Vous écriv -EZ |
| Ils écri -ENT |
The next verbs have also an infinitive ending of –RE but their stem is submitted to more changes:
- -aindre, -eindre, -oindre
- - uire
- -aincre
1. -aindre, -eindre, -oindre
For example:
- Craindre - to fear
- Joindre - to join
- Peindre - to paint
Peindre (to paint) Je pein -S Tu pein-S Il pein - Nous peign -ONS Vous peign -EZ Ils peign -ENT Exercise: Fill the gaps.
2. -uire
For example:
- Conduire, to drive
Conduire (to drive) Je condui -S Tu condui -S Il condui -T Nous conduis -ONS Vous conduis -EZ Ils conduis -ENT 3. -aincre
For example:
- Convaincre, to convince
Convaincre (to convince) Je convainc -S Tu convainc -S Il convainc -T Nous convainqu -ONS Vous convainqu -EZ Ils convainqu -ENT This particular verb is not often used in this tense, you are more likely to come across it in other tenses such as the future or the past but it is worth remembering it for future references.
The following verbs are often used and as irregulars it is essential to memorize them. Note that in English these verbs are also irregular.
- Être – to be
- Avoir – to have
- Faire-to do/to make
- Aller - to go
| Être (to be) |
| Je suis |
| Tu es |
| Elle est |
| Nous sommes |
| Vous êtes |
| Ils SONT |
| Avoir (to have) |
| J’ ai |
| Tu as |
| Il a |
| Nous avons |
| Vous avez |
| Ils ONT |
| Faire (to do/to make) |
| Je fai -S |
| Tu fai -S |
| Il fai -T |
| Nous fais -ONS |
| Vous fait -ES |
| Ils FONT |
| Aller (to go) |
| Je vai -S |
| Tu va -S |
| Il va - |
| Nous all -ONS |
| Vous all -EZ |
| Ils VONT |
Note that these last four verbs are the only ones whose 3rd person plural ends with-ONT in the present tense.
Exercises
First of all translate the verbs before the gaps in the keywords exercise, then try the whole text if you can. It is not important to do everything but to test yourself and see how much you can do
Exercise: Translation - keywords
Exercise: Translation - full text
The next section covers a few points on pronunciation: Pronunciation Points