NOTE: I also do free French bilingual short stories (parallel texts), and I've put lots of info + links on my Home Page
Here are some of my other articles that may interest you.
Perhaps... Learning with Les Chansons Francaise OR The Top 100 French Songs OR The Why and How: Using French Language Music for Learning French. OR Modern Era French Music Artists & Songs of Interest OR How to Watch Live French TV from Abroad OR The Best French Music Only Radio Stations Here are some of my French language music playlists on Spotify that may interest you.
Perhaps... Best of the French: Past and Present OR Top 100 chansons Française OR French Selection (Modern Era) OR Jacque Brel et Edith Piaf OR French Lesson Songs from Learn-French-Free-With-Stories THE TOP TEN MOST INTERESTING French Language Music Artists Since 2000 French language music has always had a bit of a reputation for being naff among English speaking peoples. To rebuke those accusations I therefore present some shockingly good modern era music artists (Frenchies who still sing in French, who'd have thought..). The list is accompanied with individually playable YouTube videos so you can quickly sample and decide for yourselves. I have also written a ditty on each artist, not that anyone reads now-a-days. FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON
BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Edith Piaf Je Ne Regrette Rien Probably the only French song that the average Joe knows. Well, at least it's a good one. Emotionally charged and yet short and simple song, and hence good for beginners. No extremely metaphorical lyrics, just nice and direct, which helps. (1960) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus Very very naughty. The controversial French lyrical genius begat a controversial sexy French song. You all know this one so there's not much more for me to add... except, if you thought it was a tad risqué beforehand, just wait until you understand the 'ins and outs' (ha ha!/ lol) of the lyrics. (1969) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Claude François Comme D'habitude Confession: I hate every song this artist ever did except this one which was truly a chef d'oeuvre. After being seen on TV by a Canadian artist, the song was bought and its lyrics re-written in English once the song had been given totally different theme. The finished product was then sung by Frank Sinatra and thus was born: 'I Did It My Way' LOTS OF GRAMMAR NOTES (1967) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Indila Dernière Danse This was on the free to view music channels every morning for the whole of spring 2014. A hit that came out of nowhere which now has 73 million YouTube hits. Vevo wouldn't let me use the official video so I used an excellent remix in place. (burn-Vevo-burn) (2014) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Zaz Je Veux This was the song that led to Zaz becoming Frances top selling artist abroad in 2010 (or was it another year?) The album from which it came (called Zaz as it happens) ranked high in the charts all over Europe (except, of course, the UK). Simple but potent lyrics whose meaning hit home with me. Plenty of slang phrases within so if you need to work on that then this is your song. (2010) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Stromae Papaoutai Recent hit all over europe and the world (152 million YouTube Hits) by the now established king of electro-urban-geek music. This song is not the easiest of ones but has a very strong lyrical narrative, if not message (as do all his songs) (2013) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Benjamin Biolay Ton Héritage Modern Classic Chanson Française. One man, one piano, one haunting tune, and a bunch of stirring lines. This one always gives me goose pimples when I hear it on the radio. The word for word translations are there but I have left it light on the grammar notes. (2009) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Jacques Brel Ne Me Quitte Pas This song is considered by many to be the all time greatest chanson française that has ever existed. Always at the top of meta-critic polls and a personal favorite of my own (I only do songs that I like). It's an oldie (circa 1959) and yet so timeless... P.s. I have done the phonetics for this one (1959) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED LEVEL Malicorne Le Luneux From the album Almanach, this traditional French folk song reconstructed by the experimental headonism of Malicorne in the late seventies will make you shiver with delight. I'm not sure whether the melody came from another song, but who cares when it's this good. Some oldie style wording but my notes will help you understand it. (1977?) FREE ONLINE FRENCH LESSON INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED LEVEL Olivia Ruiz La Femme Chocolat Unique voice, unique style of music, unique lyrics and unique looks help this artist stand far out from the often samey nouvelle scene crowd. This particular song demonstrates well her quirkiness with lyrics that are just damnright trippy. Level: at least intermediate. (2006) LISTEN TO THEM ALL WITH DEEZER
The 100 All Time Best French Language Songs (Chansons Françaises) Ever See my list of what I think are the best French language songs ever (with learning the the French Language and Culture in mind) but that are specifically chosen to suite anglophone tastes. I have linked all the songs to YouTube videos, most with lyrics on them or underneath. Slowely doing write-ups for each. And you can listen to them all on the above page if you sign-up (free + easily) to Deezer THE WHY AND HOW: Using Les Chansons Francaises (French language songs) to Learn French. Read my article explaining why and how... oh... I've just said that. ONE-STOP LINKS AND REVIEWS FOR The Best French Music Only Radio Stations Want to listen to French Radio Stations for French Language Songs but finding every two out of three songs are in English (and 3rd rate ones at that). Well, you've found the one link to rule them all, the one link to find them, the one link to link them all, and in cyberspace bind them. Now that's what I call kick-ass poetry! (Suck on that one keats) FREE ONLINE PARALLEL TEXT
Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes: Un Scandale en Bohème [A Scandal in Bohemia] Short story, sentance under sentance alignment, word for word translations, grammar notes... ideal for a beginner with very little knowledge of French. Parallel Text Languages: English, French Original Text: English Word Count: 9,248 (English version) First Published: 1892 FREE ONLINE PARALLEL TEXT Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes: L'Association des Hommes Roux [The Red-headed League] [La liga de los Pelirrojos] [Der Bund der Rothaarigen] Parallel text of four languages; English, French, Spanish and German. There are four columns with a language in each. The paragraphs are neatly alligned which means that even referring from column 1. (English) to column 4. (German) is quite intuitive. Parallel Text Languages: English, French, Spanish, German Original Text: English Word Count: 9,862 (English version) First Published: 1892 |
Hints & Tips for
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Fourrer I adj vt (1) line with fur CULIN. stuff
Fourrer II vt (1) FAM. tuck, stick, thrust, shove (dans, into) .. FAM ~ son nez partout, poke one's nose into everything - vpr se ~, stick oneself into .. hide onself (se cacher) |
This definition fairs well for the little Larouse whose entry for foutre was paltry. However, as you will see below, my big Collins Robert French Dictionary does a much better job;
COLLINS ROBERT FRENCH DICTIONARY DEFINITION
COLLINS ROBERT FRENCH DICTIONARY DEFINITION
Fourrer vt [A] *(=enfoncer) to stick, to shove, to stuff; (=mettre) to stick # ou ai-je bien pu le~? where on earth ou the heck did i put it? # ~ ses main dans ses poches to stuff ou stick ou shove one's hands in one's pockets # ~ qch dans un sac to stuff ou shove sth into a bag # qui t'a fourré ca dans le crane? who put that (idea) into you head? # ~ son nez partout/dans les affaires des autres to poke ou stick ones nose into everything/into other peoples business # ~ qn dans le pétrin to land sb in th soup ou in it (brit) # ~ qn en prison to stick sb in prison
[B] [+gateau] to fill; [+manteau] to line (with fur) vpr se fourrer [A] * # se ~ une idée dans la tete to get an idea into one's head # il s'est fourré dans la tete que... he has got it into the head that... [B] # se ~ dans un coin to go into a corner # se ~ sous la table to get under the table # ou a-t-il encore été se ~? where has he got to now? # il ne savait plus ou se ~ he didnt know where to put himself # tu est toujours fourré dans mes pattes you're always getting under my feet # il est toujours fourré chez eux he is always round at their place # son ballon est allé se ~ dans la niche du chien his ball ended up in ou landed in the dog kennel ---> doigt, guepier |
Pretty good don't you think. As you can see, the latter gives a good number of examples of where the word is used in french and believe me, this helps a lot. I made it a rule that if i had to look up a word whilst reading a french novel than i would force myself to not only read all the definition but also the entry above and below.
By the way, when I first bought my dictionary I found that I used mostly the French to English half (at least 95% of the time) and this so whilst lying on my back with the dictionary on my chest as i would use it to query words in french novels which i would prefer to read in the same way. Being just ever so heavy I had the crazy idea of cutting off the dead weight (not recommended) and so i sliced my dictionary in half and taped the binder of the two halves that resulted. Although this meant that i generally found words quicker and easier the result is that, five years later, my French to English part is falling apart (well, it had already started doing that in year two) Not only that, the curled pages, tea and coffee stains and mold growing on it (renovating house in Brittany has rendered my dictionary unusable (I have also completely lost the sections from R onwards). The good part is that when I recently replaced the dictionary I did so by buying a full french dictionary ( Le Robert Pratique Dictionaire - very good) no longer needing the english translations (ahhh! sense of achievement). So this is a message to the two big publishers of french/english dictionaries: please publish each half of your dictionary separately!
HINT(2) Buy a verb conjugation book.
This is a must, particularly for French which is a language where verb conjugation plays a crucial role. If you look up a word in a big dictionary (see above) and it is not there then there is a good chance that it is a non infinitive form of an irregular verb. Such words can be very different from the infinitive form under which it is held as an entry in dictionaries. Just try looking for ont in your dictionary; didnt find it? what a surprise! In fact, it's a form of avoir [to have] but if your a beginner there is no way of identifying this word unless you have a verb conjugation book (or the internet, but your not going to get out of bed to turn on you laptop just to search that dam word whilst reading Les Miserables - ps don't start with Les Miserables, just don't. Nor Les Fleurs du Mal like I did)
How do you identify the word ont then? Simply look for ont in the back of your verb conjugation book in the Irregular Verb Form Index just as if it was a normal dictionary and this should tell you that ont is an irregular form of avoir but nothing else. From there you must look for the page which contains all the conjugations of avoir. each page contains a different verb in its infinitive form with its corrosponding congugation table below it. The verbs (and thus pages) are in alphabetical order and so avoir will be somewhere at the start of the book. Once found, the avoir page will tell you that the verb means to have and ils/elles ont means they have (although see below).
This is not the only reason for having a conjugation book. Even when verbs are regulier and, for example, that whilst you couldn't find gratterions in a dictionary you managed to find gratter[to scratch] and rightly presume that its a form of that verb, you will still be left without a clue as to what exactly the former means (have/has scratched? will scratch? would have scratched? scratching? had scratched?) Once again, verb conjugation book to the rescue! Look for gratterions in the verb table for gratter and you will see that it is the nous[we] form (ons ending should have given a clue) of the conditional tense. It is at this point you realize it was a mistake not to read the introduction of your verb conjugation book explaining what all the different tenses meant: these kind of books only give translations for the infinitive. You quickly refer to the introduction and find that for the conditional you pretty much add the word would in front of the infinitive's translation giving, grosso modo, we would scratch.
Such books are not only useful for french learners but are used by francophones as well. A fair amount of french households have these books (Can you imagine needing an English conjugation book next to your dictionary at home.) One of my party tricks over past four years was to ask french people how to conjugate faire[to do/make] (a very common verb) in the first person of the imperfect subjunctive and to this date, after doing this a good 30/40 times, I have never received a good response. (it's fisse by the way, but the usual response is fusse.) To be fair, no-one uses the imperfect subjunctive in speech, but still..
Just out of interest, I bought the Big Blue Book of French Verbs (555 fully conjugated verbs) which has served me well.
By the way, when I first bought my dictionary I found that I used mostly the French to English half (at least 95% of the time) and this so whilst lying on my back with the dictionary on my chest as i would use it to query words in french novels which i would prefer to read in the same way. Being just ever so heavy I had the crazy idea of cutting off the dead weight (not recommended) and so i sliced my dictionary in half and taped the binder of the two halves that resulted. Although this meant that i generally found words quicker and easier the result is that, five years later, my French to English part is falling apart (well, it had already started doing that in year two) Not only that, the curled pages, tea and coffee stains and mold growing on it (renovating house in Brittany has rendered my dictionary unusable (I have also completely lost the sections from R onwards). The good part is that when I recently replaced the dictionary I did so by buying a full french dictionary ( Le Robert Pratique Dictionaire - very good) no longer needing the english translations (ahhh! sense of achievement). So this is a message to the two big publishers of french/english dictionaries: please publish each half of your dictionary separately!
HINT(2) Buy a verb conjugation book.
This is a must, particularly for French which is a language where verb conjugation plays a crucial role. If you look up a word in a big dictionary (see above) and it is not there then there is a good chance that it is a non infinitive form of an irregular verb. Such words can be very different from the infinitive form under which it is held as an entry in dictionaries. Just try looking for ont in your dictionary; didnt find it? what a surprise! In fact, it's a form of avoir [to have] but if your a beginner there is no way of identifying this word unless you have a verb conjugation book (or the internet, but your not going to get out of bed to turn on you laptop just to search that dam word whilst reading Les Miserables - ps don't start with Les Miserables, just don't. Nor Les Fleurs du Mal like I did)
How do you identify the word ont then? Simply look for ont in the back of your verb conjugation book in the Irregular Verb Form Index just as if it was a normal dictionary and this should tell you that ont is an irregular form of avoir but nothing else. From there you must look for the page which contains all the conjugations of avoir. each page contains a different verb in its infinitive form with its corrosponding congugation table below it. The verbs (and thus pages) are in alphabetical order and so avoir will be somewhere at the start of the book. Once found, the avoir page will tell you that the verb means to have and ils/elles ont means they have (although see below).
This is not the only reason for having a conjugation book. Even when verbs are regulier and, for example, that whilst you couldn't find gratterions in a dictionary you managed to find gratter[to scratch] and rightly presume that its a form of that verb, you will still be left without a clue as to what exactly the former means (have/has scratched? will scratch? would have scratched? scratching? had scratched?) Once again, verb conjugation book to the rescue! Look for gratterions in the verb table for gratter and you will see that it is the nous[we] form (ons ending should have given a clue) of the conditional tense. It is at this point you realize it was a mistake not to read the introduction of your verb conjugation book explaining what all the different tenses meant: these kind of books only give translations for the infinitive. You quickly refer to the introduction and find that for the conditional you pretty much add the word would in front of the infinitive's translation giving, grosso modo, we would scratch.
Such books are not only useful for french learners but are used by francophones as well. A fair amount of french households have these books (Can you imagine needing an English conjugation book next to your dictionary at home.) One of my party tricks over past four years was to ask french people how to conjugate faire[to do/make] (a very common verb) in the first person of the imperfect subjunctive and to this date, after doing this a good 30/40 times, I have never received a good response. (it's fisse by the way, but the usual response is fusse.) To be fair, no-one uses the imperfect subjunctive in speech, but still..
Just out of interest, I bought the Big Blue Book of French Verbs (555 fully conjugated verbs) which has served me well.
HINT(3) Learn the basics of conjugating a verb
You can learn French quite well without having to read a grammar book. Simply by osmosis you can absorb these rules. You will learn that le changes to la and les in different contexts. It is not necessary to know that it is called a 'definitive article' to be able to employ it correctly. However this 'osmosis' theory does not work well with verbs and without knowing how to conjugate verbs, you will never go beyond ordering steak and chips in a restaurant. Conjugation works by the cross referencing of two things:
a). Tenses/moods (of which there are 14)
And here are the 14 tenses/moods. First the simple ones i.e. single word tenses/moods
SIMPLE (examples using 'to see' in the first person singular i.e. I)
Présent ~ I see (used much more than the English Present tense)
Passé Simple ~ I saw (literary i.e. used mostly in writing where we would use the preterit)
Imparfait ~ I used to see/ I was seeing (indispensable)
Futur ~ I will see (close enough)
Conditionnel ~ I would see
Subjonctif ~ that I see (almost extinct in English though there are a few examples still kicking around with the verb 'to be' : 'I hope that it be good' as opposed to 'I hope that it is good.' Triggered by certain 'wishy washy' words like hope (negative only), want, need, fear... etc that are followed by 'que' and then a subject pronoun i.e. 'je veux qu'il vienne' [I want that he come] or [I want him to come]
Imparfait Du Subjonctif ~ that I see/ that I was seeing (Literary - used in place of the subjonctif in formal writing where the 'wishy washy' trigger words are formulated in a past tense form. i.e 'je voulais qu'il vînt' [I was wanting that he was coming OR that he come] ((innuendo alert))
Now the compound ones i.e. two word tenses. Formed with an auxiliary verb (etre [to be] OR avoir [to have] in one of their simple tense forms) + the past participle of the verb being conjugated.
COMPOUND
Passé Composé ~ I have seen/ I saw (more or less the combination of the English Preterit and Perfect tenses, at least in oral French)
Plus-Que-Parfait ~ I had seen
Passé Anterior ~ I saw/ I had seen (literary - used in place of the plus-que-parfait above in high brow writing after certain trigger words: après que, aussitôt que, dès que, lorsque, or quand [source: about.com])
Futur Anterior ~ I will have seen
Conditionnel Passé ~ I would have seen
Passé Du Subjonctif ~ that I saw/ that I have seen. Used in place of the subjonctif when the action/omission being wished/ feared/ needed... etc was being wanted/ feared/ needed to have taken place before the said wishing/ fearing/ needing had been initiated. Example 'Je veux qu'il soit venu' [I want that he has(be) come] OR [I want him to have(be) come (already)]
((something tells me I should have chosen a verb other than 'to come'))
Plus-Que-Parfait Du Subjonctif ~ that I had seen This one, the last and the most tenuous, is used in high brow writing in place of the Passé Du Subjonctif when the wishing/ fearing/ needing... etc as described above has itself taken place in the past: 'J'ai voulu qu'il fût venu.' [I wanted that he had(was) come]. Sometimes this tense is used in high brow writing to replace both the Plus-que-parfait and the Passé Conditionnel in si clauses. Here is an example that I found at a site of the Quebec office for the French language:
"Si j'eusse compris ce qu'elle voulait dire, j'eusse réagi tout autrement."
[If I had understood what she was wanting to say(meant), I would have reacted completely differently.]
NOTE; The English translations of the tense examples are sometimes written in Franglais in order to give an idea of the workings of the complex tenses and because often there is a lack of a good English alternative.
b). Personal pronoun categories in the subject case (six in total)
And here they are
SING PLUR
1st pers Je [I] Nous [we]
2nd pers Tu [you (sing - fam) Vous [you (plur - form)]
3rd pers Il/elle/on [he/she/it/one] Ils/elles [they]
So you cross reference these two groups and what do you get:
84 POTENTIALLY DIFFERENT FORMS OF A VERB!
Want to see it in action. Take at look at this conjugation of Voir [to see]
You can learn French quite well without having to read a grammar book. Simply by osmosis you can absorb these rules. You will learn that le changes to la and les in different contexts. It is not necessary to know that it is called a 'definitive article' to be able to employ it correctly. However this 'osmosis' theory does not work well with verbs and without knowing how to conjugate verbs, you will never go beyond ordering steak and chips in a restaurant. Conjugation works by the cross referencing of two things:
a). Tenses/moods (of which there are 14)
And here are the 14 tenses/moods. First the simple ones i.e. single word tenses/moods
SIMPLE (examples using 'to see' in the first person singular i.e. I)
Présent ~ I see (used much more than the English Present tense)
Passé Simple ~ I saw (literary i.e. used mostly in writing where we would use the preterit)
Imparfait ~ I used to see/ I was seeing (indispensable)
Futur ~ I will see (close enough)
Conditionnel ~ I would see
Subjonctif ~ that I see (almost extinct in English though there are a few examples still kicking around with the verb 'to be' : 'I hope that it be good' as opposed to 'I hope that it is good.' Triggered by certain 'wishy washy' words like hope (negative only), want, need, fear... etc that are followed by 'que' and then a subject pronoun i.e. 'je veux qu'il vienne' [I want that he come] or [I want him to come]
Imparfait Du Subjonctif ~ that I see/ that I was seeing (Literary - used in place of the subjonctif in formal writing where the 'wishy washy' trigger words are formulated in a past tense form. i.e 'je voulais qu'il vînt' [I was wanting that he was coming OR that he come] ((innuendo alert))
Now the compound ones i.e. two word tenses. Formed with an auxiliary verb (etre [to be] OR avoir [to have] in one of their simple tense forms) + the past participle of the verb being conjugated.
COMPOUND
Passé Composé ~ I have seen/ I saw (more or less the combination of the English Preterit and Perfect tenses, at least in oral French)
Plus-Que-Parfait ~ I had seen
Passé Anterior ~ I saw/ I had seen (literary - used in place of the plus-que-parfait above in high brow writing after certain trigger words: après que, aussitôt que, dès que, lorsque, or quand [source: about.com])
Futur Anterior ~ I will have seen
Conditionnel Passé ~ I would have seen
Passé Du Subjonctif ~ that I saw/ that I have seen. Used in place of the subjonctif when the action/omission being wished/ feared/ needed... etc was being wanted/ feared/ needed to have taken place before the said wishing/ fearing/ needing had been initiated. Example 'Je veux qu'il soit venu' [I want that he has(be) come] OR [I want him to have(be) come (already)]
((something tells me I should have chosen a verb other than 'to come'))
Plus-Que-Parfait Du Subjonctif ~ that I had seen This one, the last and the most tenuous, is used in high brow writing in place of the Passé Du Subjonctif when the wishing/ fearing/ needing... etc as described above has itself taken place in the past: 'J'ai voulu qu'il fût venu.' [I wanted that he had(was) come]. Sometimes this tense is used in high brow writing to replace both the Plus-que-parfait and the Passé Conditionnel in si clauses. Here is an example that I found at a site of the Quebec office for the French language:
"Si j'eusse compris ce qu'elle voulait dire, j'eusse réagi tout autrement."
[If I had understood what she was wanting to say(meant), I would have reacted completely differently.]
NOTE; The English translations of the tense examples are sometimes written in Franglais in order to give an idea of the workings of the complex tenses and because often there is a lack of a good English alternative.
b). Personal pronoun categories in the subject case (six in total)
And here they are
SING PLUR
1st pers Je [I] Nous [we]
2nd pers Tu [you (sing - fam) Vous [you (plur - form)]
3rd pers Il/elle/on [he/she/it/one] Ils/elles [they]
So you cross reference these two groups and what do you get:
84 POTENTIALLY DIFFERENT FORMS OF A VERB!
Want to see it in action. Take at look at this conjugation of Voir [to see]
JE TU IL/ELLE
PRÉS. vois vois voit IMP. voyais voyais voyait P. SIM. vis vis vit FUTUR verrai verras verra COND. verrais verrais verrait SUB. voie voies voie I. D. S. visse visses vit P.C. ai vu as vu a vu P.Q.P. avais vu avais vu avait vu P.A. eus vu eus vu eut vécu F.A aurai vu auras vu aura vu C.P aurais vu aurais vu aurait vu P.D.S. aie vu aies vu ait vu P.Q.S eusse vu eusses vu eut vu |
NOUS VOUS ILS/ELLES
voyons voyez voient voyions voyiez voyaient vimes vites virent verrons verrez verront verrions verriez verraient voyions voyiez voient vissions vissiez vissent avons vu avez vu ont vu avions vu aviez vu avaient vu eûmes vu eûtes vu eurent vu aurons vu aurez vu auront vu aurions vu auriez vu auraient vu ayons vu ayez vu aient vu eusisons vu eussiez vu eussent vu |
Ok, don't panic, you don't have to know all of these forms. For instance, the ones in red are literary tenses/moods (more or less reserved for high-brow writing) and so don't need to be learned straight away. Many of the French would even struggle with some of these. Of the others I will say this: it is surprising just how logical and simple French verb conjugation (and the use thereof) can feel once you have the knack. There is more sense to it then to the system of verbs in English!
NOTE: This is not the tradtional way of displaying a verb cojugation. I did it like this to show you that it is just a case of identifying the two pieces of information needed in the two axes (personal pronoun (subject form) and the tense/mood) follow them to see where they meet and BINGO! The more traditional way of displaying is below. I have seen other newer ways of trying to group the tenses but please stick to this one.
NOTE: This time I conjugated vivre [to live]
NOTE: This is not the tradtional way of displaying a verb cojugation. I did it like this to show you that it is just a case of identifying the two pieces of information needed in the two axes (personal pronoun (subject form) and the tense/mood) follow them to see where they meet and BINGO! The more traditional way of displaying is below. I have seen other newer ways of trying to group the tenses but please stick to this one.
NOTE: This time I conjugated vivre [to live]
Simple Tenses/Moods
PRESENT je vis tu vis il/elle/on vit nous vivons vous vivez ils/elles vivent IMPARFAIT je vivais tu vivais il/elle/on vivait nous vivions vous viviez ils/elles vivaient PASSÉ SIMPLE je vécus tu vécus il/elle vécut nous vécumes vous vécutes ils/elles vécurent FUTUR je vivrai tu vivras il/elle/on vivra nous vivrons vous vivrez ils/elles vivront CONDITONNEL je vivrais tu vivrais il/elle/on vivrait nous vivrions vous vivriez ils/elles vivraient PRESENT DU SUBJONCTIF que je vive que tu vives qu'il/elle/on vive que nous vivions que vous viviez qu'ils/elles vivent IMPARFAIT DU SUBJONCTIF que je vécusse que tu vécusses qu'il/elle/on vécut que nous vécussions que vous vecussiez qu'ils/elles vécussent |
Composed Tenses/Moods
PASSÉ COMPOSÉ j'ai vécu tu as vécu il/elle/on a vecu nous avons vécu vous avez vécu ils/elles ont vécu PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT j'avais vécu tu avais vécu il/elles/on avait vécu nous avions vécu vous aviez vécu ils/elles avaient vécu PASSÉ ANTERIEUR j'eus vécu tu eus vécu il/elle/on eut vécu Nous eumes vécu vous eutes vécu ils/elles eurent vécu FUTUR ANTERIEUR j'aurai vécu tu auras vécu il/elle/on aura vécu nous aurons vécu vous aurez vécu ils/elles auront vécu CONDITIONNEL PASSÉ J'aurais vécu tu aurais vécu il/elle/on aurait vécu nous aurions vécu vous auriez vécu ils/elles auraient vécu PASSÉ DU SUBJONCTIF que j'aie vécu que tu aies vécu qu'il/elle/on ait vécu que nous ayons vécu que vous ayez vécu qu'ils/elles aient vécu PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT DU SUBJONCTIVE que j'eusse vécu que tu eusses vécu qu'il/elle/on eut vécu que nous eussion vécu que vous eussiez vécu qu'ils/elles eussent vécu |
NOTE: These are not the only forms of a verb. Outside of this table you have the imperatifs...TO BE CONTINUED
HINT(4) Learn the conjugation of avoir[to have] and être[to be] off by heart in the following moods/tenses
Présent
passé Composé
Imparfait
Futur
Conditionnel
Why these two verbs? Because most sentences in most languages have one or the other in them. The sentence I just wrote had the verb 'to have' in it. But this is not the only reason. (by the way, 'to be' was in that last one.) These two verbs are special: (to be was there as well) they alone are used as auxiliary verbs in the compound tenses of other verbs. (and there) A compound tense is made up of one of these two in a simple tense form followed directly by the past participle of the verb being conjugated. (and again). In essence, if you know all the simple tense forms of these two verbs and you understand how to form the past participle of verbs in general, then you will have conquered half of all verb conjugations that there is to be learnt. (it was both this time)
Ps, it is also good to learn these two by heart because they are very irregular. ('to be' again)
But why learn the verbs in these tenses in particular? Because they are the most common/ important, that's why. (and a 'to be' to finish. Or was it not 'to be.' that is the que... alright, I'll stop)
Présent
passé Composé
Imparfait
Futur
Conditionnel
Why these two verbs? Because most sentences in most languages have one or the other in them. The sentence I just wrote had the verb 'to have' in it. But this is not the only reason. (by the way, 'to be' was in that last one.) These two verbs are special: (to be was there as well) they alone are used as auxiliary verbs in the compound tenses of other verbs. (and there) A compound tense is made up of one of these two in a simple tense form followed directly by the past participle of the verb being conjugated. (and again). In essence, if you know all the simple tense forms of these two verbs and you understand how to form the past participle of verbs in general, then you will have conquered half of all verb conjugations that there is to be learnt. (it was both this time)
Ps, it is also good to learn these two by heart because they are very irregular. ('to be' again)
But why learn the verbs in these tenses in particular? Because they are the most common/ important, that's why. (and a 'to be' to finish. Or was it not 'to be.' that is the que... alright, I'll stop)
Etre
PRESENT je suis tu es il/elle/on est nous sommes vous etes ils/elles sont PASSÉ COMPOSÉ j'ai été tu as été il/elle/on a été nous avons été vous avez été ils/elles ont été IMPARFAIT je étais tu étais il/elle/on était nous étions vous étiez ils/elles étaient FUTUR je serai tu seras il/elle/on sera nous serons vous serez ils/elles seront CONDITONNEL je serais tu serais il/elle/on serait nous serions vous seriez ils/elles seraient |
Avoir
PRESENT j' ai tu as il/elle/on a nous avons vous avez ils/elles ont PASSÉ COMPOSÉ j'ai eu tu as eu il/elle/on a eu nous avons eu vous avez eu ils/elles ont eu IMPARFAIT je avais tu avais il/elle/on avait nous avions vous aviez ils/elles avaient FUTUR j' aurai tu auras il/elle/on aura nous aurons vous aurez ils/elles auront CONDITONNEL j' aurais tu aurais il/elle/on aurait nous aurions vous auriez ils/elles auraient |
HINT(5) If that last challenge wasn't too much of a slog, you might as well go ahead and learn aller[to go] and faire[to do/ to make] in the same tenses/moods.
These two verbs are the next two biggies on the list, and are once again irregular. They are both used in plenty of every day sayings, more so than in English infact. Aller, of course, is used...
For the rest of the verbs in the French language it shouldn't be necessary to 'list learn': You will pick them up on slogging through diverse reading materials and referring back to your conjugation book or using wordreference to identify the verb forms when in doubt.
TO BE CONTINUED....
NOTES TO SELF
- Identify the personal pronouns and verbs in each sentence of any material that you are reading in French.
- Electronic readers with dictionaries installed
- French tv with subtitles
- American DVD's with language/subtitle options
- French music
- French Radio
- Use of Stories (with a big S) - anecdote of case law vs statute law
- Learn the difference between the Imparfait and the Passé Composé
- Learn the difference in form between the Future and the Conditional
- Parallel texts (how to use)
- Use all the free material on the internet
- skype
- The four magical steps: read hear speak write.
- Reading: You think you can learn French without reading? Perhaps next you can try mathematics without counting! However, does not have to be formal literature. Try you tube music lyric videos and tv with french subtitles.