The Language of Love

The French language is considered to be one of the most romantic languages in the world. With Paris as a popular tourist destination for its amorous atmosphere and the French being associated with their welcoming and intimate demeanor, there’s no question why it is deemed to be the language of love! However, has anyone actually tried to learn and master the language itself? It seems as though no one really warns you about the complications and struggles you will face when you try to learn French. Therefore, I’m here to warn you about conjugation and hopefully help you understand it better!

Please keep in mind that I will not be teaching how to conjugate but rather explain it to those who already have prior knowledge on the subject!

How Does One Conjugate?

There is much to go into when conjugating verbs in French, but we are going to focus on conjugating the first two verbs mentioned below. In French, there are 5 types of verbs:

1. Avoir (to have)
2. Être (to be)
3. verbs that end with -er (eg. manger)
4. Verbs that end with -ir (eg. courir)
5. Verbs that end with -re (eg. comprendre)

Another fact to keep in mind when conjugating in French is each pronoun has its own ending! To refresh your memory, these are the pronouns:

Je (I)

Tu (You singular)

Il/Elle (He/She)

Nous (We)

Vous (You plural)

Ils/Elles (They)

Experience + Progress

I have been in French Immersion for 9 years-and counting-and no one ever really bothered to clarify conjugation for me. I know the struggle of learning a new language and receiving barely any support on your baby steps, so i decided I’d offer some!

Reminder:

Avoir:

J’ai

Tu as

Il/Elle a

Nous avons

Vous avez

Ils/Elles ont

Être:

Je suis

Tu es

Il/Elle est

Nous sommes

Vous êtes

Ils/Elles sont

Tips and Tricks!

1. I always get confused which ones have the s at the end, so just remember that you loves s, so there will always be an “s” after every conjugated verb with the pronoun “tu”.
2. For the verb “être”, il/elle always has a t, however tu does not. I always like to theink that tu does not like double t so the other t goes to il/elle.
3. Vous êtes always has the accent on the first e because it comes from the verb être, therefore the accent would remain
4. sont vs ont always confused me, and the only way i could remember is sont with the s is always être because être loves s
5. Practice does help. I know it’s been said by everyone but it really does help ypu familiarize with the conjugations.

C’est tout, bonne chance mes amis!