French Tenses.

Regular -ER verb conjugations

To conjugate an -ER verb in the present tense, remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings. For example, here are the present tense conjugations for the regular -ER verbs parler (to speak), donner (to give), and visiter (to visit):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular -IR verb conjugations

To conjugate an -IR verb in the present tense, remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings. For example, here are the present tense conjugations for the regular -IR verbs choisir (to choose), finir (to finish), and réussir (to succeed):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular -RE verb conjugations

To conjugate an -RE verb in the present tense, remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings. For example, here are the present tense conjugations for the regular -RE verbs descendre (to descend), perdre (to lose), and vendre (to sell):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Present Continuous

To emphasize what one is doing right now, in English, we use the verb “to be” and the “present participle” of the verb = I am doing (doing is the present participle of to do).

 

First, we don’t use verbs ending in -ant to translate English verbs ending in -ing:

I am doing IS NOT Je suis faisant!

To translate the Present continuous in French we have two possibilities:

1. The Present tense

2. The form: être en train de + infinitive (to be in the process of)

If someone says: Qu’est-ce que tu fais? we understand that it is now, so if we reply: je mange, we understand, I am eating!

If you want to emphazise, you can say: Qu’est-ce que tu es est en train de faire? Je suis en train de manger!

 

The Gerund

If you wanted to say “whilst doing…” use EN + Infinitive – er (or ir or re) and add –ant.

E.g. I am doing my homework whilst watching television

Je fais mes devoirs en regardant la télé