Appendix:French verbs

Main category: French verbs

French verbs have been traditionally classified in three groups, based on their endings and conjugation. One of these is, in fact, a "remnant" group including any verb that does not conjugate like the verbs of the first two. With the caveat of the irregular third conjugation, these groupings are similar to the tripartite system found in Italian (-are, -ere, -ire), Spanish/Portuguese (-ar, -er, -ir), and other Romance languages.

The three conjugations

• -er verbs (verbes en -er) form the first conjugation and match roughly Latin verbs in -āre. The prototypical verb is aimer (“to love”).
• -ir verbs (verbes en -ir) form the second conjugation. It is a slight misnomer as it specifically includes verbs that use the -iss- infix (derived from the Latin inchoative infix -esc-) in the indicative present and imperfect, and the subjunctive imperfect. They match roughly Latin verbs in -ēre and -īre. The prototypical verb is finir (“to end, to finish”).
• Verbs of the third conjugation match a variety of Latin verbs in -īre, -ere, or -ēre whose conjugation evolved in a fashion that gave them non-standard endings. As such, this family is highly irregular: it includes verbs in -ir, in -oir and -re, as well as a few exceptional verbs in -er.
• Traditionally, the third conjugation consisted of verbs ending in -oir, and the fourth conjugation was made up of -re verbs. This categorisation has, however, become unused.

General notes

Pronunciation

• Some inflectional endings are pronounced irregularly relative to how they are spelled, with many cases are well-represented on {{fr-conj-auto}}.
  • The third-person plural suffix -ent is silent, like word-final "e", except for in poetry where it may be pronounced as an unstressed /ə/ sound.
  • The -ai ending of the first-person singular past historic (in the case of -er verbs) and future is pronounced /e/, not /ɛ/.
  • The second-person plural suffix -ez is also pronounced /e/, not /ɛ/.
  • When the verb stem ends in -t, the ending -ions is pronounced with /tjɔ̃/ instead of /sjɔ̃/ (i.e. portions).

Endings

• The second person singular always ends in -s, except in the first group's imperative and a few verbs in -eux (where the -x used to be a scribal abbreviation for -us).
• The plural endings almost always end in -ons, -ez and -ent (or -ont) in tenses other than the past historic.
  • In the past historic, the first- and second-person plurals always end in -mes and -tes, with the preceding syllable's vowel taking a circumflex (except haïr, which apparently has a diaeresis on it).
  • In the subjunctive present, the first- and second-person plurals always end in -ions and -iez, with the exception of auxiliary verbs avoir and être where both takes -ons and -ez, respectively (ayons, ayez; soyons, soyez).
  • In the indicative present, some verbs end in -tes instead of -ez in the second-person plural: être, dire, redire, faire, and faire's derivatives.
  • Also in the indicative present, some verbs end in -ont instead of -ent outside of the future tense: être, avoir, aller, and faire.
  • The verb être is the only verb without -ons in the indicative present (it has nous sommes).
• The imperfect indicative always ends in -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
• The imperfect subjunctive always ends in -sse, -sses, -t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent, with the preceding syllable's vowel taking a circumflex in the third person singular.
• The conditional is always formed by adding the imperfect indicative endings to the future stem, that stem being identical to the infinitive in the first two conjugations.
• The missing forms of the imperative (the first person plural and second person plural forms) were mainly supplied by indicative present tenses.
  • The verbs avoir, être, and vouloir are the only verbs of which have subjunctive present forms on the missing imperative forms, latter are also the only verb having distinct alternative missing forms.

First conjugation

The first conjugation is typified by the verb aimer. It includes all verbs in -er except for aller, and envoyer and its derivatives. Some first-conjugation verbs take the regular endings but have spelling changes in the verb root, usually to preserve pronunciation, or due to shifts in the location of the stress.

Base conjugation

• Infinitive: stem + -er
• Participle
  • Past: stem + -é
  • Present: stem + -ant
• Indicative
  • Present: stem + -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent
  • Imperfect: stem + -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient
  • Past historic: stem + -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent
  • Future: stem + -erai, -eras, -era, -erons, -erez, -eront
  • Conditional: stem + -erais, -erais, -erait, -erions, -eriez, -eraient
• Subjunctive
  • Present: stem + -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent
  • Imperfect: stem + -asse, -asses, -ât, -assions, -assiez, -assent
• Imperative
  • tu form: stem + -e
  • nous form: stem + -ons
  • vous form: stem + -ez

Spelling variations: verbs in -cer and -ger

-cer

In French, a c is pronounced /s/ before e, i and y, and when it has a cedilla (ç), but it is pronounced /k/ before a, o, and u. When a verb stem ends in a c, it becomes ç before the endings that begin in a or o, in order to maintain the pronunciation of the verb stem.

The prototypical verb of this type is placer (“to place”), conjugated as follows:

• Indicative
  • Present (nous form): plaçons
  • Imperfect: plaçais, plaçais, plaçait, placions, placiez, plaçaient
  • Past historic: plaçai, plaças, plaça, plaçâmes, plaçâtes, placèrent
• Subjunctive
  • Imperfect: plaçasse, plaçasses, plaçât, plaçassions, plaçassiez, plaçassent
• Imperative
  • nous form: plaçons

-ger

In the same way as the pronunciation of the letter c changes based on the following letter, so does the pronunciation of the letter g. It is pronounced /ʒ/ before e, i and y, but pronounced /ɡ/ before a, o, and u. This causes problems with verbs ending in -ger, as explained above. These verbs also change their spelling: the g changes to ge before a and o.

The prototypical verb of this type is manger (“to eat”), conjugated as follows:

• Indicative
  • Present (nous form): mangeons
  • Imperfect: mangeais, mangeais, mangeait, mangions, mangiez, mangeaient
  • Past historic: mangeai, mangeas, mangea, mangeâmes, mangeâtes, mangèrent
• Subjunctive
  • Imperfect: mangeasse, mangeasses, mangeât, mangeassions, mangeassiez, mangeassent
• Imperative
  • nous form: mangeons

These spelling changes may combine with the vowel variation discussed in the next section with verbs such as dépecer, rapiécer and protéger (there are no verbs in -eger).

Pronunciation variations

The pronunciation of some verbs changes when the ending begins with an unpronounced e (namely -e, -es, -ent and the future/conditional endings). This is usually because these vowels (/ə/ and /e/) are phonotactically not allowed in a stressed, closed syllable.

Verbs with vowel alternation

Verbs with a penultimate vowel of /e/ (é), such as répéter, or /ə/, such as acheter, change the last vowel of the stem to è (/ɛ/) , if the first vowel of the ending is /ə/.

The prototypical verbs of these types are lever and céder:

lever

• Indicative
  • Present: lève, lèves, lève, (levons, levez), lèvent
  • Future: lèverai, lèveras, lèvera, lèverons, lèverez, lèveront
  • Conditional: lèverais, lèverais, lèverait, lèverions, lèveriez, lèveraient
• Imperative
  • tu form: lève

céder

• Indicative
  • Present: cède, cèdes, cède, (cédons, cédez), cèdent
  • Future: cèderai, cèderas, cèdera, cèderons, cèderez, cèderont
  • Conditional: cèderais, cèderais, cèderait, cèderions, cèderiez, cèderaient
• Imperative
  • tu form: cède

Exceptions

• Instead of accenting the stressed vowel, the verbs appeler, interpeler, jeter and their derivatives duplicate the l or t:

  appeler

  • Indicative
    • Present: appelle, appelles, appelle, (appelons, appelez), appellent
    • Future: appellerai, appelleras, appellera, appellerons, appellerez, appelleront
    • Conditional: appellerais, appellerais, appellerait, appellerions, appelleriez, appelleraient
  • Imperative
    • tu form: appelle

  jeter

  • Indicative
    • Present: jette, jettes, jette, (jetons, jetez), jettent
    • Future: jetterai, jetteras, jettera, jetterons, jetterez, jetteront
    • Conditional: jetterais, jetterais, jetterait, jetterions, jetteriez, jetteraient
  • Imperative
    • tu form: jette
• Verbs like céder may retain the original é spelling, and /e/ pronunciation, of the final e in the future and conditional, reflecting a pronunciation where the schwa is not dropped. In such cases, they are spelled with an acute accent in these two tenses:

  ceder (alternative conjugation)

  • Indicative
    • Future: céderai, céderas, cédera, céderons, céderez, céderont
    • Conditional: céderais, céderais, céderait, céderions, céderiez, céderaient
• Verbs with a penultimate vowel of /ɛ/, such as paresser, are conjugated normally like aimer, as are verbs in -éer, such as créer, and -eyer, like grasseyer. Some verbs in -eller or -etter exist as alternate spellings of equivalent forms in -eler and -eter; they do not vary either.

1990 spelling reform

Before 1990, the spelling of the forms of verbs in -eler and -eter was very complex. Some would always duplicate the consonant, other would conjugate like lever, and others could take both. Very often dictionaries would contradict each other, or even themselves, when giving conjugations. It is now recommended that all these verbs, with the exception of the most common (appeler and jeter) be conjugated like lever.

At the same time, it was recommended that verbs like céder conjugate the same way as lever in the future and conditional, as modern pronunciation did not match the spelling for many people.

Verbs in -yer

• Verbs ending in -oyer and -uyer (other than envoyer and renvoyer) replace the y with an i before an unpronounced e, turning the preceding syllable in a diphthong. The prototypical verbs are noyer and ennuyer, hence:

  noyer

  • Indicative
    • Present: noie, noies, noie, (noyons, noyez), noient
    • Future: noierai, noieras, noiera, noierons, noierez, noieront
    • Conditional: noierais, noierais, noierait, noierions, noieriez, noieraient
  • Imperative
    • tu form: noie

  ennuyer

  • Indicative
    • Present: ennuie, ennuies, ennuie, (ennuyons, ennuyez), ennuient
    • Future: ennuierai, ennuieras, ennuiera, ennuierons, ennuierez, ennuieront
    • Conditional: ennuierais, ennuierais, ennuierait, ennuierions, ennuieriez, ennuieraient
  • Imperative
    • tu form: ennuie
• Verbs ending in -ayer, however, may be conjugated either by turning the y into an i as above, or by keeping the y and using the exact same conjugation as aimer (prototypical example payer):

  payer

  • Indicative
    • Present: paie, paies, paie, (payons, payez), paient —OR— paye, payes, paye, (payons, payez), payent
    • Future: paierai, paieras, paiera, paierons, paierez, paieront —OR— payerai, payeras, payera, payerons, payerez, payeront
    • Conditional: paierais, paierais, paierait, paierions, paieriez, paieraient —OR— payerais, payerais, payerait, payerions, payeriez, payeraient
  • Imperative
    • tu form: paie —OR— paye

Irregular verb: envoyer

The verb envoyer has an irregular change of stem in the future and conditional tenses. The future stem of this verb is enverr-, resembling voir more than envoyer. This gives the future tense j'enverrai, tu enverras, etc., and the conditional tense j'enverrais, tu enverrais, etc.

Regular verbs with peculiar spellings

• Verbs in -éer (mostly créer, recréer, agréer and béer) have unusual sequences of multiple "e"s; the feminine past participles of créer and agréer are among the only words in French to have sequences of three "e"s (créée, agréée).
• Verbs ending in -ier are pronounced normally (that is, they rhyme with words in -ie like manie), and the sequence of two "i"s found in the imperfect and subjunctive (and otherwise very rare) is preserved: (que) nous copiions, (que) vous copiiez.

Second conjugation

The prototypical verb for the second conjugation is finir. The conjugation is marked by the vowel i and the infix -iss- in the indicative present and imperfect. It has only one irregular verb and one that can take an alternate conjugation.

Base conjugation

• Infinitive: stem + -ir
• Participle
  • Past: stem + -i
  • Present: stem + -issant
• Indicative
  • Present: stem + -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent
  • Imperfect: stem + -issais, -issais, -issait, -issions, -issiez, -issaient
  • Past historic: stem + -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent
  • Future: stem + -irai, -iras, -ira, -irons, -irez, -iront
  • Conditional: stem + -irais, -irais, -irait, -irions, -iriez, -iraient
• Subjunctive
  • Present: stem + -isse, -isses, -isse, -issions, -issiez, -issent
  • Imperfect: stem + -isse, -isses, -ît, -issions, -issiez, -issent
• Imperative
  • tu form: stem + -is
  • nous form: stem + -issons
  • vous form: stem + -issez

Irregular -ir verb families

• Verbs ending in -oir are usually considered part of the third conjugation (below).
• Some verbs ending in -rir (e.g., offrir, ouvrir) are conjugated in the present indicative, imperfect, and present subjunctive as if they were of the first conjugation (i.e. "offrer", "ouvrer", etc.):
  • Indicative
    • Present: offre, offres, offre, offrons, offrez, offrent
    • Imperfect: offrais, offrais, offrait, offrions, offriez, offraient
  • Subjunctive
    • Present: offre, offres, offre, offrions, offriez, offrent

Special -ir verbs

• The verb fleurir can sometimes be conjugated as if its infinitive was florir when it means “prosper”. This is systematic in the imperfect indicative (je florissais, etc.) and present participle (florissant), and although much less common, also seen in all other tenses, including the infinitive itself.
• The verb haïr is conjugated exactly like finir, but its diaeresis remains for all the conjugation, with the exception of the singular present indicative, where the forms are written without it (je hais, tu hais, il hait) and pronounced accordingly /ɛ/, not /ai/. The verb was formerly spelled hayir, and the corresponding indicative forms (haïs, haïs, haït) are still used regionally (e.g. in Canadian French).
• Although maudire is conjugated like finir in all other forms, it is considered a third-group verb due to its irregular infinitive and past participle (maudit). Another third-group verb that often conjugates in regular second-group conjugation is bruire.

Third conjugation

Main appendix: French irregular verbs

Verbs of the third group are an extremely disparate forms, several of which have missing, unresolved or variable conjugations. The verbs can be broken into several broad groups:

• The verb aller
• Verbs in -ir with a stem that varies or that loses a syllable in some tenses.
• Verbs in -re (-ore, -oire, -ire, -ure) and -oir

All in all, these verbs account for less than four hundred words and over seventy distinct conjugations. Only some of the most common and important conjugations are given and described here.

Special verbs

être

Owing to its history as a mixture of two highly irregular Old French verbs (estre and ester), être (“to be”) contains a variety of unique and unpredictable forms.

• Participles
  • Past: été
  • Present: étant
• Indicative
  • Present: suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont
  • Imperfect: étais, étais, était, étions, étiez, étaient
  • Past historic: fus, fus, fut, fûmes, fûtes, furent
  • Future: serai, seras, sera, serons, serez, seront
  • Conditional: serais, serais, serait, serions, seriez, seraient
• Subjunctive
  • Present: sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient
  • Imperfect: fusse, fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent
• Imperative
  • tu form: sois
  • nous form: soyons
  • vous form: soyez

avoir

Avoir (“to have”) is another highly irregular auxiliary. It was worn down from frequent use, leading to its current forms.

• Participles
  • Past: eu (note pronunciation /y/)
  • Present: ayant
• Indicative
  • Present: ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont
  • Imperfect: avais, avais, avait, avions, aviez, avaient
  • Past historic: eus, eus, eut, eûmes, eûtes, eurent
  • Future: aurai, auras, aura, aurons, aurez, auront
  • Conditional: aurais, aurais, aurait, aurions, auriez, auraient
• Subjunctive
  • Present: aie, ais, ait, ayons, ayez, aient
  • Imperfect: eusse, eusses, eût, eussions, eussiez, eussent
• Imperative
  • tu form: aie
  • nous form: ayons
  • vous form: ayez

faire

Faire (“to do, to make”) is the second most frequent verb in French (after être), and is noticeably irregular.

Note that fais- followed by an ending is always pronounced with a mute e sound (/fəz/) in this verb.

• Participles
  • Past: fait
  • Present: faisant
• Indicative
  • Present: fais, fais, fait, faisons /fəzɔ̃/, faites, font
  • Imperfect: faisais /fəzɛ/, faisais, faisait, faisions, faisiez, faisaient
  • Past historic: fis, fis, fit, fîmes, fîtes, firent
  • Future: ferai, feras, fera, ferons, ferez, feront
  • Conditional: ferais, ferais, ferait, ferions, feriez, feraient
• Subjunctive
  • Present: fasse, fasses, fasse, fassions, fassiez, fassent
  • Imperfect: fisse, fisses, fît, fissions, fissiez, fissent
• Imperative
  • tu form: fais
  • nous form: faisons
  • vous form: faites

aller

It is possible that aller is the single most irregular French verb. Its conjugation involves no less than three distinct stems from synonymous Latin roots: all-/aill- (from the Late Latin alare, from Latin ambulare), v- (from vadere) and ir- (from Latin ire). Aside from this, most endings are those of first conjugation (-er) verbs.

• Participles
  • Past: allé
  • Present: allant
• Indicative
  • Present: vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont
  • Imperfect: allais, allais, allait, allions, alliez, allaient
  • Past historic: allai, allas, alla, allâmes, allâtes, allèrent
  • Future: irai, iras, ira, irons, irez, iront
  • Conditional: irais, irais, irait, irions, iriez, iraient
• Subjunctive
  • Present: aille, ailles, aille, allions, alliez, aillent
  • Imperfect: allasse, allasses, allât, allassions, allassiez, allassent
• Imperative
  • tu form: va (but vas-y)
  • nous form: allons
  • vous form: allez

Rendre and prendre

Most verbs in -dre conjugate like rendre (major exceptions are those in -indre and -oudre). Prendre and its compounds, however, have a very different conjugation, where the d is only kept in the future and conditional.

Rendre

• Participles
  • Past: rendu
  • Present: rendant
• Indicative
  • Present: rends, rends, rend, rendons, rendez, rendent
  • Imperfect: rendais, etc.
  • Past historic: rendis, etc.
  • Future/conditional: rendrai, etc.
• Subjunctive
  • Present: rende, rendes, rende, rendions, rendiez, rendent
  • Imperfect: rendisse, etc.
• Imperative
  • tu form: rends
  • nous form: rendons
  • vous form: rendez

Prendre

• Participles
  • Past: pris
  • Present: prenant
• Indicative
  • Present: prends, prends, prend, prenons, prenez, prennent
  • Imperfect: prenais, etc.
  • Past historic: pris, etc.
  • Future/conditional: prendrai, etc.
• Subjunctive
  • Present: prenne, prennes, prenne, prenions, preniez, prennent
  • Imperfect: prisse, etc.
• Imperative
  • tu form: prends
  • nous form: prenons
  • vous form: prenez

Tenir and venir

Verbs derived from tenir and venir form a major group of verbs who reproduce the peculiarities of several Spanish verbs like poner and gains a d in the future and conditional. These verbs are the only verb to have a nasal vowel in the past historic and imperfect subjunctive.

Tenir

• Participles
  • Past: tenu
  • Present: tenant
• Indicative
  • Present: tiens, tiens, tient, tenons, tenez, tiennent
  • Imperfect: tenais, etc.
  • Past historic: tins, tins, tint, tînmes, tîntes, tinrent
  • Future/conditional: tiendrai, etc.
• Subjunctive
  • Present: tienne, tiennes, tienne, tenions, teniez, tiennent
  • Imperfect: tinsse, tinsses, tînt, tinssions, tinssiez, tinssent
• Imperative
  • tu form: tiens
  • nous form: tenons
  • vous form: tenez

Battre and mettre

For all purpose but spelling, battre and its derived verbs are conjugated like rendre. The only difference is in spelling, as native French words may not end in tt or tts, thus the indicative present singular of these verbs goes bats, bats, bat. Mettre and its family show the same changes, but additionally have a past participle, past historic, and subjunctive imperfect in mi-:

Battre

• Participles
  • Past: battu
  • Present: battant
• Indicative
  • Present: bats, bats, bat, battons, battez, battent
  • Imperfect: battais, etc.
  • Past historic: battis, battis, battit, battîmes, battîtes, battirent
  • Future/conditional: battrai, etc.
• Subjunctive
  • Present: batte, battes, batte, battions, battiez, battent
  • Imperfect: battisse, battisses, battît, battissions, battissiez, battissent
• Imperative
  • tu form: bats
  • nous form: battons
  • vous form: battez

Mettre

• Participles
  • Past: mis
  • Present: mettant
• Indicative
  • Present: mets, mets, met, mettons, mettez, mettent
  • Imperfect: mettais, etc.
  • Past historic: mis, etc.
  • Future/conditional: mettrai, etc.
• Subjunctive
  • Present: mette, mettes, mette, mettions, mettiez, mettent
  • Imperfect: misse, etc.
• Imperative
  • tu form: mets
  • nous form: mettons
  • vous form: mettez

Cuire

Verbs in -uire such as cuire, conduire and détruire conjugate as follows. The only exceptions are luire, reluire and nuire, which have two possible forms in the past historic and no t to their past participles, and bruire, which conjugated as regular -ir verbs except in the infinitive.

Cuire

• Participles
  • Past: cuit
  • Present: cuisant
• Indicative
  • Present: cuis, cuis, cuit, cuisons, cuisez, cuisent
  • Imperfect: cuisais, etc.
  • Past historic: cuisis, etc.
  • Future/conditional: cuirai, etc.
• Subjunctive
  • Present: cuise, cuises, etc.
  • Imperfect: cuisse, etc.
• Imperative
  • tu form: cuis
  • nous form: cuisons
  • vous form: cuisez

Luire

• Participles
  • Past: lui
  • Present: luisant
• Indicative
  • Past historic: luis, etc.

Cuire is often, by analogy, conjugated the same in the past historic. The third person plural *cuirent in particular is fairly common.

Origins

The examples below are from the verb faire (“to do”). Some of singular tense endings have etymologically erroneous -s which does not exist in either Old French or Latin; but there are few endings that is not erroneous, like -is (the first-person singular present of regular -ir) from Vulgar Latin *-isciō, but not in the case of irregular verbs like mentir because the -s on mens are rather erroneous, partially from paradigm mergings by the influence of the regular -ir verbs.

• The infinitive originates from Latin active present infinitive.

facere → faire

• The present participle originates from Latin accusative gerund, from the passive future participle.

faciendum → faisant

• The past participle originates from Latin accusative supine, from the passive perfect participle.

factum → fait

• The indicative present originates from Latin active indicative present.

faciō → fais

facis → fais

facit → fait

facimus → faisons¹

facitis → faites

faciunt → font

• The indicative imperfect originates from Latin active indicative imperfect.

faciēbam → faisais

faciēbās → faisais

faciēbat → faisait

faciēbāmus → faisions¹²

faciēbātis → faisiez²

faciēbant → faisaient

• The past historic originates from Latin active indicative perfect.

fēcī → fis

fēcistī → fis

fēcit → fit

fēcimus → fîmes

fēcistis → fîtes

fēcērunt → firent

• The future tense originates from Latin active present infinitive plus the active present indicative forms of habeō.³

facere + habeō → ferai

+ habēs → feras

+ habet → fera

+ habēmus → ferons¹⁴

+ habētis → ferez⁴

+ habent → feront

• The conditional tense originates from Latin active present infinitive plus endings that resemble imperfect indicative, inherited the former usage with imperfect forms of habeō.³⁴

facere + -ēbam → ferais

+ -ēbās → ferais

+ -ēbat → ferait

+ -ēbāmus → ferions¹²

+ -ēbātis → feriez²

+ -ēbant → feraient

• The subjunctive present originates from Latin active subjunctive present.

faciam → fasse

facias → fasses

faciat → fasse

faciāmus → fassions¹²

faciātis → fassiez²

faciant → fassent

• The subjunctive imperfect originates from Latin active subjunctive pluperfect.

fēcissem → fisse

fēcissēs → fisses

fēcisset → fît

fēcissēmus → fissions¹²

fēcissētis → fissiez²

fēcissent → fissent

• The imperative originates from Latin active present imperative. Missing forms (first-person plural and second-person plural) are supplied by the indicative present, or the subjunctive present in few verbs (see also § General notes).

face → fais

Notes:

1. The first-person plural ending -ons is likely from Frankish suffix *-ōmês, *-umês.
2. The suffixes -ions and -iez originate from Frankish *-ōmês and Latin -ātis added directly to e-stem suffixes (e.g. present subjunctive); or by using paradigms of an -iō verb on the sense of being an imperfect tense.
3. The future stems may come under analogy with Latin indicative pluperfect (vêneram hábeō → Old French vendrai → viendrai), except where the pluperfect stem contains -x- or -s- it always use the infinitive stem. The pluperfect tense was once inherited as indicative pluperfect in very early Old French.
4. All conditional endings, including 1st and 2nd plural future endings (not including stems in -r-), are either comes from corresponding indicative imperfect and indicative present forms, respectively, or from shortening of older *feravais, *feravais, *feravait, ... (conditional) and *feravons, *feravez (future). In both sides, the endings always resembles endings mentioned previously.

Hesitations and variations

For other hesitations see Appendix:French irregular verbs

• In the 1990 spelling reform, it was recommended that receler and assener be written with an accent: recéler and asséner. This may affect the conjugation of these verbs.
• The verb faillir was traditionally conjugated similarly to falloir (which was, in fact, a variant of it). Nowadays, it is more usually conjugated like finir or assaillir, although literary usage still uses the original forms on occasion:
  • Indicative present: je faus, tu faus, il faut
  • Indicative future and imperfect: faudr- + first-conjugation endings
• Chauvir is an uncommon verb for which usage hesitates between the conjugation of finir (which classical pundits rejected) and that of offrir (except for the past participle, which always ends in -i).
• Traditional grammar holds that, depending on meaning, saillir is conjugated either like a second-group verb or like assaillir. In practice, there is hesitation and a tendency to always use the assaillir conjugation.

Auxiliary verbs

Main appendix: French auxiliary verbs

The vast majority of French verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary avoir. The traditional rule to know which verbs take être is given as "verbs in the pronominal form, verbs of movement and verbs expressing change". However, the second and third elements, although they encompass most of the verbs that take être absolutely or most often, do not apply to a number of other verb where avoir is the only auxiliary possible or is favored. Furthermore, the precise sense may affect the auxiliary: verbs used transitively don't take être.

The following verbs always take être when used intransitively:

• advenir
• aller
• arriver
• décéder
• devenir (and redevenir)
• échoir
• entrer (and rentrer)
• intervenir
• mourir
• naître (and renaître)
• partir (and repartir)
• parvenir
• provenir
• retourner
• sortir (and ressortir)
• survenir
• tomber (and retomber)
• venir (and revenir)

In addition the following verbs usually are conjugated with être, but use avoir when used transitively:

• descendre (and redescendre)
• monter (and remonter)
• passer (and repasser)
• sortir (and ressortir)

See also

• Appendix:French defective verbs
• Appendix:French verbs taking subjunctive