Conjugation of the Verbs (Conjugaison des Verbes)

Simple Tenses (Temps Simples)

The drop of the vowel after the stressed one brought about profound changes of the French verbal endings as compared with their Latin prototypes. The endings of one syllable became mute, though they caused some changes in the pronunciation of the preceding stressed vowel; in modern language the person and number of the verbal forms are indicated by the personal pronouns that are used as subjects of the verbs. The most important transformations of the verbal endings are as follows:

• with the verbs of the II and III conjugations the ending -s for 2nd p. sg. became usable in the 1st p. sg. also, cf. F. je pars I depart and tu pars you depart vs. VL *parto : partis;
• the verbs of the I conjugation have dropped the ending -t for 3rd p. sg., cf. F. il aime he loves vs. L. amat; the verbs of the II and III conjugation have also dropped this ending, if their stems are terminated by -d or -t, cf. F. il rend he renders vs. VL. *rendit and F. il part he departs vs. VL. *partit;
• the 1st. p. pl. Latin terminations -âmus, -êmus, -imus and -îmus were generalized in Old French to -omes (Anglo-Norman -um), that later on became -ons, cf. F nous aimons we love vs L. amâmus;
• the 2nd. p. pl. Latin terminations -âtis, -êtis, -itis and -îtis were generalized in Old French to -ets (Anglo-Norman -iss), that later on became -ez, cf. F vous aimez you love vs L. amâtis;
• the 3rd. p. pl. Latin terminations -ant, -ent and -iunt were generalized to -ent which is always mutein the modern language, cf. F ils aiment they love vs L. amant;
• the Latin characteristic -ba- for imperfect has lost its -b- and this brought about contractions and diphthongization in the verbal terminations: -âbam, -âbas, -âbat became -ais, -ais, -ait and -êbam (-ebam), -êbas (-ebas), -êbat (-ebat) became -ois, -ois, -oit (the latter were prevailing in the past, but since the 17th century were completely replaced by the former);
• the endings for past simple are easily recognizable as they show much conservatism, especially in plural, cf. -âmes , -âtes, -èrent from L. -â(vi)mus, -â(vi)stis, -â(ve)runt;
• the endings for the present subjunctive were generalized for all the three conjugations;
• the imperfect subjunctive has preserved the characteristic -ss-;
• the verbs of the 2nd conjugation (in its major part derived from the Latin IV conjugation) have incorporated the inchoative affix -ss- (for easiness considered -iss- in the tables below; from the Latin -sc-) in their forms; a similar phenomenon occurs in Italian (finire : finisco, finisci ... finiscono, finisca etc.), in Spanish (establecer : establezco, establezca; traducir : traduzco, traduzca etc.), in Portuguese (agradecer : agradezo etc.) etc.; see the Latin inchoative verbs;
• the participial form in -é are developped from -ât- through the regular change of a to e in front of t, cf. F aimé from L amâtus.

Non-Finite Verbal Forms
 

_	I	II	III
The Present Infinitive	aimer to love	finir to finish	rendre to render	partir to depart
The Present Act. Participle	aimant	finissant	rendant	partant
Gerund	en aimant	en finissant	en rendant	en partant
The Past Pass. Participle	aimé, ée, és, ées	fini, ie, is, ies	rendu, ue, us, ues	parti, ie, is, ies

See Present Active Participle and Verbal Adjective.
See Past Passive Participle.
 

Finite Verbal Forms

The Present Indicative (Indicatif Présent)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	j'aime tu aimes il aime	je finis tu finis il finit	je rends tu rends il rend	je parts tu parts il part
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	ns aimons vs aimez ils aiment	ns finissons vs finissez ils finissent	ns rendons vs rendez ils rendent	ns partons vs partez ils partent

See the Latin Present Indicative.

See the Usage of the Present tense.
 

The Imperfect Indicative (Indicatif Imparfait)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	j'aimais tu aimais il aimait	je finissais tu finissais il finissait	je rendais tu rendais il rendait	je partais tu partais il partait
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	ns aimions vs aimiez ils aimaient	ns finissions vs finissiez ils finissaient	ns rendions vs rendiez ils rendaient	ns partions vs partiez ils partaient

Practical Rule of Formation: The imperfect indicative is formed on the stem of the first person plural (nous) in the present indicative. The imperfect endings are -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Thus:

regarder (present: nous regardons) => je regardais, tu regardais etc.

étudier : vous étudiiez
s'écrier : nous nous écriions

Note that verbs ending in -cer or -ger (e.g., commencer, manger) will undergo a spelling change when the "c" or "g" is followed directly by an "a" or "o." To soften the consonant, "c" will add the cedilla (ç) and "g" will be followed by "e." So,

vous mangiez, nous commencions but  ils mangeaient, je commençais.

See the Usage of the Imperfect tense.
 

The Past Simple Indicative (Indicatif Passé Simple)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	j'aimai tu aimas il aima	je finis tu finis il finit	je rendis tu rendis il rendit	je partis tu partis il partit
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	ns aimâmes vs aimiâtes ils aimèrent	ns finîmes vs finîtes ils finirent	ns rendîmes vs rendîtes ils rendirent	ns partîmes vs partîtes ils partirent

See the Latin Perfect Indicative.

Past Simple is used now only in written French.
 

The Future Indicative (Futur de l'Indicatif)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	j'aimerai tu aimeras il aimera	je finirai tu finiras il finira	je rendrai tu rendras il rendra	je partirai tu partiras il partira
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	ns aimerons vs aimerez ils aimeront	ns finirons vs finirez ils finiront	ns rendrons vs rendrez ils rendront	ns partirons vs partirez ils partiront

Formation: It is derived from the Vulgar Latin modal construction infinitive +the Present Indicative of the auxiliary habêre (F. avoir) to have, which is of a future meaning. In French writing the forms of avoir were appended to the infinitive to make a whole word, cf.: aimer ai > aimerai, aimer as > aimeras etc. Note in the plural the verbal form avons, avez was shortened to -ons, -ez.

See the List of Irregular Future Indicative and Imperfect Conditional verbal forms.

See the Usage of the Future tense.
 

The Present Subjunctive (Subjonctif Présent)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	que j' aime que tu aimes qu'il aime	que je finisse que tu finisses qu'il finisse	que je rende que tu rendes qu'il rende	que je parte que tu partes qu'il parte
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	que ns aimions que vs aimiez qu'ils aiment	que ns finissions que vs finissiez qu'ils finissent	que ns rendions que vs rendiez qu'ils rendent	que ns partions que vs partiez qu'ils partent

Practical Rule of Formation: Most verbs form their subjunctive stem from the third person plural of the present indicative. The -ent of the third person plural is dropped and the subjunctive endings are added in its place: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent.

See the Latin Present Subjunctive.

Note that some verbs forms in the present indicative and present subjunctive are indistinguishable. In such cases the mood can usually be identified by the context:

je regarde (indicative) vs. que je regarde (subjunctive).

étudier: que vous étudiiez
s'écrier: que nous nous écriions.

See the Irregular Present Subjunctives.

See the Usage of the Subjunctive mood.
 

The Imperfect Subjunctive (Subjonctif Imparfait)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	que j' aimasse que tu aimasses qu'il aimât	que je finisse que tu finisses qu'il finît	que je rendisse que tu rendisses qu'il rendît	que je partisse que tu partisses qu'il partît
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	que ns aimassions que vs aimassiez qu'ils aimassent	que ns finissions que vs finissiez qu'ils finissent	que ns rendissions que vs rendissiez qu'ils rendissent	que ns partissions que vs partissiez qu'ils partissent

Formation: It follows pretty well the Latin pattern. See the Latin Imperfect Subjunctive.
 

The Imperfect Conditional (Conditionnel Présent)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	j'aimerais tu aimerais il aimerait	je finirais tu finirais il finirait	je rendrais tu rendrais il rendrait	je partirais tu partirais il partirait
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	ns aimerions vs aimeriez ils aimeraient	ns finirions vs finiriez ils finiraient	ns rendrions vs rendriez ils rendraient	ns partirions vs partiriez ils partiraient

Formation: It is formed by adding the endings of the Imperfect Indicative to the Present Infinitive.

See the List of Irregular Future Indicative and Imperfect Conditional verbal forms.

See the Usage of the Conditional mood.
 

The Present Imperative (Impératif Présent)
 

_		I	II	III -re	III -ir
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	-- aime! qu'il aime!	-- finis! qu'il finisse!	-- rend! qu'il rende!	-- part! qu'il parte!
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	aimons! aimez! qu'ils aiment!	finissons! finissez! qu'ils finissent!	rendons! rendez! qu'ils rendent!	partons! partez! qu'ils partent!

Formation: The forms of the 2 p. sg. and pl. inherit the Latin Present Imperative.

The other imperative forms are borrowed from the Present Indicative (1st p. pl.) and Present Subjunctive.

See the Usage of the Imperative.