French pronominal verbs

French pronominal verbs

Pronominal Verbs

A pronominal verb requires a reflexive pronoun, which is a special kind of pronoun that agrees with and refers back to the subject. They're identical to direct object pronouns except for the third-person se.

Person Singular Plural

1st me nous

2nd te vous

3rd se se

One type of pronominal verb, the reflexive verb, describes an action being done by the subject to the subject.

Je me dis que ce n'est pas possible. — I tell myself that it isn't possible.

Vous vous levez. — You are getting up. (Lit, "You raise yourself".)

La femme se promène. — The woman goes for a walk. (Lit, "walks herself".)

Reflexive verbs include se in their infinitive forms (e.g. se promener). It isn't necessary to include the reflexive pronoun in the English translation. Also, the reflexive verb should come after ne in negations.

Ils se rasent. — They are shaving.

Elle ne se rase pas. — She doesn't shave.

The other kinds of pronominal verbs are reciprocal, passive, and subjective. You will learn these later.

Pronoun Order

When two object pronouns modify the same verb, they always appear in a predefined order: me/te/nous/vous/se > le/la/les > lui/leur > y > en.

Je vous la laisse. — I am leaving it for you.

Nous nous la réservons. – We reserve it for ourselves.

Ils nous le donnent. — They are giving it to us.

Ils le lui donnent. — They are giving it to him.

Verbs with À and De

As you learned previously, à or de can appear after a verb to introduce an infinitive or object. You should consider such a preposition to be an integral part of the verb that completes or changes its meaning.

Je commence à manger. — I am starting to eat.

Ma nièce essaie de dormir. — My niece is trying to sleep.

Je pense à des éléphants roses. — I am thinking about pink elephants.

Que pensez-vous de ce film ? — What do you think of that film?

Il pense qu'elle est belle. — He thinks that she is beautiful.

However, recall from "Verbs: Present 1" that semi-auxiliary verbs can introduce other verbs without needing a preposition.

Je veux lire. — I want to read.

Il aime manger. — He likes to eat.

Y REPLACES À + THING

For verbs appended with à (like penser à), the adverbial pronoun y can replace à + a thing.

Tu penses à l'examen ? — Are you thinking about the test?

Oui, j'y pense encore. — Yeah, I'm thinking about it again.

Il croit aux fantômes ? — Does he believe in ghosts?

Oui, il y croit. — Yes, he believes in them.

To replace à + a person or animal, use an indirect object pronoun instead.

Je lui pense. — I am thinking about him/her.

Elle me téléphoné maintenant. — She is calling me right now.

Venir De

In "Places", you learned that the present tense can be used to express the near future. Similarly, the present tense can also express the recent past in the construction venir de + infinitive, but these should be translated to the simple past or present perfect in English.

Je viens de voir cela. — I just saw that.

Il vient de déjeuner. — He has just had lunch.

Confusing Verbs

Demander à means "to ask to" when followed by an infinitive.

Elle demande à payer avec des dollars. — She asks to pay with dollars.

However, when used with nouns, demander is particularly confusing because its direct and indirect object are the opposite of its English counterpart, "to ask".

Je demande une baguette. — I ask for a baguette. (Not "I ask a baguette.")

Je demande une baguette à la boulangère. — I ask the baker for a baguette.

Je lui demande de me donner une baguette. — I ask her to give me a baguette.

Écouter means "to listen" in the literal sense of intentionally listening or paying attention to something.

J'écoute de la musique. — I am listening to music.

Elle écoute la voix de la sagesse. — She listens to the voice of reason.

Entendre can mean "hear", "listen", or (rarely) "understand".

J'entends du bruit. — I hear noise.

Elle ne veut rien entendre. — She won't listen.

Manquer means "to miss", but the pronouns are flipped from its English counterpart. If it helps, you can think of manquer as "to be missed by".

Vous me manquez. — I miss you.

Je vous manque. — .You miss me.

Plaire à is commonly translated as "to like", but for grammatical purposes, think of it as "to please" or "to be pleasing to".

La jupe plaît aux filles. — The girls like the skirt. / The skirt is pleasing to the girls.

Ça me plaît. — I like it. / That is pleasing to me.

The pronominal verb se lever ("to get up") means to physically get up from a non-standing position, not to wake up.

French group 3 verbs

Group 3 verbs

Group 3 Verbs

Group 3 verbs are considered irregular, but some sparse patterns do exist among the -ir and -er verbs in this group.

Subject G1 parler G2 finir G3 dormir G3 ouvrir G3 vendre
je parle finis dors ouvre vends
tu parles finis dors ouvres vends
il/elle/on parle finit dort ouvre vend
nous parlons finissons dormons ouvrons vendons
vous parlez finissez dormez ouvrez vendez
ils/elles parlent finissent dorment ouvrent vendent
Among the G3 -ir verbs, some conjugate like dormir, while verbs like ouvrir conjugate as though they're -er verbs. Note that singular conjugations of dormir drop the last letter of the root. Also, while some -re verbs (such as attendre, entendre, and perdre) conjugate like vendre, dozens of other conjugation patterns exist, so it's best to memorize each verb's conjugation individually.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Sentences can have grammatical objects, which are nouns that are affected by a verb. There are two types of objects: direct objects, which are nouns acted upon, and indirect objects, which are nouns that are indirectly affected by the action.

Ben threw the ball at him.
In this example, "Ben" is the subject, "the ball" is the direct object, and "him" is the indirect object. You can usually recognize indirect objects in English by looking for a preposition after a verb. Identifying objects is important, especially in French.

Verbs can be transitive, intransitive, or both. Transitive verbs can have direct objects, while intransitive verbs cannot. However, both types of verbs can have indirect objects.

Transitive: Je lance une chaussure. — I throw a shoe.
Intransitive: Je parle à Jacques. — I am speaking to Jacques.
Parler is an interesting example because it's intransitive for everything but language names.

Transitive: Je parle anglais. — I speak English.
French verbs can be tricky for Anglophones because some transitive verbs in French have intransitive English translations and vice versa. Pay attention to this.

Transitive: Le chat regarde le chien.
Intransitive: The cat is looking at the dog.
Intransitive: Il téléphone à son ami.
Transitive: He is calling his friend.
Stative Verbs in English

Unlike dynamic verbs, which describe actions and processes, stative verbs describe states of being—physical and mental states, possession, sensations, and so on. The most common stative verb is "to be". Here are some other common examples:

Possessing: belong, get, have, own, possess
Feeling: hate, like, love, need, want
Sensing: feel, hear, see, smell, taste
Thinking: believe, know, recognize, think, understand
The most important detail about stative verbs is that they can't be used in continuous tenses in English.

C'est mon fils. — He is my son. (Not "is being".)
Je veux une pomme. — I want an apple. (Not "am wanting".)
Elle aime son chien. — She loves her dog. (Not "is loving".)
On a deux amis. — We have two friends. (Only cannibals "are having" their friends.)
You may have noticed that some verbs can be both stative and dynamic based on context. For instance:

"To have" can be dynamic when it means "to consume".
"To feel" is stative, but "to feel sick" or "to feel better" are dynamic.
"To be" can be dynamic when it means "to act".
Pay attention to this nuance when translating into English. This problem rarely occurs when translating to French because it lacks continuous tenses.

Impersonal Expressions

A number of other impersonal verbs have to do with weather.

Pleuvoir ("to rain"): Il pleut. — It is raining.
Neiger ("to snow"): Il neige. — It is snowing.
Faire chaud ("to be warm"): Il fait chaud aujourd'hui. — It is warm today.
Chaud can be replaced with a number of other adjectives, like froid ("cold") or humide ("humid").

Confusing Verbs

Like their English counterparts, voir ("to see") and regarder ("to watch") differ based on the subject's intention. If the subject is actively watching or looking for something, use regarder. Otherwise, use voir.



Le chat regarde le poisson. — The cat is watching the fish.
Elle peut voir la ville. — She can see the city.

French conjugation: the present

French conjugation: The present

Conjugations and Infinitives

As you learned in "Basics 1", verbs like parler conjugate to agree with their subjects. Parler itself is an infinitive, which is a verb's base form. It consists of a root (parl-) and an ending (-er). The ending can dictate how the verb should be conjugated. In this case, almost all verbs ending in -er are regular verbs in the 1st Group that share the same conjugation pattern. To conjugate another 1st Group verb, affix the ending to that verb's root.

Aimer ("to love"): j'aime, tu aimes, nous aimons, etc.
Marcher ("to walk"): je marche, tu marches, nous marchons, etc.
Every verb belongs to one of three groups:

The 1st Group includes regular -er verbs and includes 80% of all verbs.
The 2nd Group includes regular -ir verbs like finir ('to finish").
The 3rd Group includes all irregular verbs. This includes many common verbs like être and avoir as well as a handful of less common conjugation patterns.
Subject G1: parler G2: finir G3: dormir
je parle finis dors
tu parles finis dors
il/elle/on parle finit dort
nous parlons finissons dormons
vous parlez finissez dormez
ils/elles parlent finissent dorment
Aller ("to go") is the only fully irregular verb in Group 1, but a handful of others are slightly irregular.

Spelling-changing verbs end in -ger (e.g. manger) or -cer (e.g. lancer, "to throw") and change slightly in the nous form, as well as any other form whose ending begins with an A or O. These verbs take a form like nous mangeons or nous lançons.

Stem-changing verbs have different roots in their nous and vous forms. For instance, most forms of appeler ("to call") have two L's (e.g. j'appelle), but the N/V forms are nous appelons and vous appelez.

Semi-Auxiliary Verbs

The only true auxiliary verbs in French are être and avoir, but there are a number of semi-auxiliary verbs in French that can be used with other verbs to express ability, necessity, desire, and so on. They are used in double-verb constructions where the first verb (the semi-auxiliary) is conjugated and the second is not.

Je veux lire. — I want to read.
Il aime manger. — He likes to eat.
Modal verbs are the English equivalents of semi-auxiliaries—for instance, "can", which translates to either savoir or pouvoir. When "can" indicates knowledge, use savoir.

Je sais lire et écrire. — I know how to read and write.
Il sait parler allemand. — He knows how to speak German.
When "can" indicates permission or ability (apart from knowledge), use pouvoir.

Il peut manger. — He can (or "may") eat.
Il peut parler allemand. — He is allowed to speak German.
One of the most important semi-auxiliary verbs is aller, which is used to express the near future (futur proche), just like the English verb "going to".

Je vais manger. — I am going to eat.
Vous allez lire le livre. — You are going to read the book.
Note that in verb constructions beginning with non-auxiliary verbs, the verbs must be separated by a preposition.

Nous vivons pour manger. — We live to eat.
Impersonal Expressions

A few defective impersonal verbs can only be used in impersonal statements and must be conjugated as third-person singular with il. Remember that il is a dummy subject and does not refer to a person.

Falloir means "to be necessary", and it often takes the form il faut + infinitive.

Il faut manger. — It is necessary to eat. / One must eat.
Il faut choisir. — It is necessary to choose. / One must choose.
Il faut can also be used transitively with a noun to indicate that it is needed.

Il faut du pain. — (Some) bread is needed.
Confusing Verbs

Used transitively, savoir and connaître both mean "to know", but in different ways. Savoir implies understanding of subjects, things, or skills, while connaître indicates familiarity with people, animals, places, things, or situations.

Je sais les mots. — I know the words.
Je connais le garçon. — I know the boy.
Attendre means "to await", which is why it does not need a preposition.



Il attend son ami. — He is awaiting (or "waiting for") his friend.

One Each

The indefinite article doesn't always refer to just one thing. Sometimes, it can mean one thing each. Consider these examples:

Ils ont un manteau — They have one coat / They each have one coat
Ils ont des manteaux — They have some coats / They each have some coats

French possessives

French possessives

Possessives Match What is Owned

In English, possessive adjectives (e.g. "his") match the owner. However, in French, they match the thing being owned.

Consider the example of "her lion". The French translation is son lion, because lion is masculine and both the lion and the woman are singular. Note that if we hear just son lion, we can't tell if the lion is owned by a man or woman. It's ambiguous without more context. If two people own a lion, then it is leur lion.

Possessives have different forms that agree with four things: the number of owners, the number of things owned, the gender of the thing owned, and the grammatical person of the owner (e.g. "his" versus "my").

For one owner, the possessive adjectives are:

Person English Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Plural
1st my mon ma mes
2nd your (singular) ton ta tes
3rd his/her/its son sa ses
For multiple owners, genders don't matter:

Person English Singular Owned Plural Owned
1st our notre nos
2nd your (plural) votre vos
3rd their leur leurs
The plural second-person possessive adjectives, votre and vos, should be used when addressing someone formally with vous.

Examples:

Owner Singular Owned Plural Owned
My Mon ami — My friend Mes tigres — My tigers
Your Ton abeille — Your bee Tes lions — Your lions
His/Her Son oiseau — His/her bird Ses chiens — His/her dogs
Our Notre bière — Our beer Nos pommes — Our apples
Your Votre sel — Your salt Vos citrons — Your lemons
Their Leur fromage — Their cheese Leurs fromages — Their cheeses
Euphony in Possessives

For the sake of euphony, all singular feminine possessives switch to their masculine forms when followed by a vowel sound.

Person Masculine Feminine Feminine + Vowel Sound
1st mon chat ma robe mon eau
2nd ton chat ta robe ton eau
3rd son chat sa robe son eau
Femme and Fille

Femme can mean "woman" or "wife" and fille can mean "girl" or "daughter" depending on the context. For example, when femme and fille are preceded by a possessive adjective, then they translate to "wife" and "daughter", respectively.

Une fille et une femme sont dans le restaurant — A girl and a woman are in the restaurant. (Not: "A daughter and a wife are in the restaurant.")
Ma fille — My daughter. (Not: "My girl".)
Ta femme — Your wife. (Not: "Your woman"

Grammar with colors

Grammar and colours in French

Tips and notes

Colors can be both nouns and adjectives. As nouns, colors are usually masculine.

Le rose. — The pink.

As adjectives, they agree with the nouns they modify except in two cases. First, colors derived from nouns (e.g. fruits, flowers, or gems) tend to be invariable with gender and number. Orange ("orange") and marron ("brown") are the most common examples.

La jupe orange — The orange skirt

Les jupes orange — The orange skirts

Les chiens marron. — The brown dogs.

Second, in compound adjectives (les adjectifs composés) made up of two adjectives, both adjectives remain in their masculine singular forms.

Sa couleur est vert pomme. — Its color is apple-green.

J'aime les robes rose clair. — I like light-pink dresses.

Most colors that end in -e in their masculine forms are invariable with gender.

Un chien rouge — A red dog

Une jupe rouge — A red skirt

French pronounciation

French pronunciation

Pronunciation

ENDINGS

French word endings tend to be particularly difficult for beginners, largely because ending consonants are usually silent, but they do affect preceding vowel sounds.

Ending Homophones Example English Approximation IPA
-er -é, -ée, -ées parler cliché [e]
-et -ets, -è, -ê poulet pou-LAY [ε]
-it -its, -i, -ie, -ies, -is, -iz lit LEE [i]
-at -ats, -as, -a chat SHAH [ɑ]
The consonants C, R, F, and L are usually pronounced (you can use the mnemonic "CaReFuL"), with these main exceptions:

An ending -r is silent in infinitives (e.g. parler - to speak).
An ending -fs is silent (e.g. œufs - eggs).
The L of an ending -il is usually silent (e.g. fusil - gun).
THE MUTE E

When a consonant is followed by a mute -e, then the consonant should be pronounced. This is a way of distinguishing masculine and feminine forms verbally. Any unaccented -e at the end of a word is always mute except in a single-syllable word like le, which sounds somewhat like "luh".

The letter E often becomes mute in the middle of a word, especially if it would add a syllable. For instance, most Francophones pronounce appeler ("to call") as "app-LAY", not "app-pe-LAY".

Tu

Tu is not pronounced like the English "too". The French [u] (or German [ü]) is a sound that isn't found in English. A tip to learn this sound is to shape your mouth like you're about to say the "oo" (in "too"), but say "ee" (in "tee") instead. Practice this until it feels natural.

French Idiomatic plurals

French idiomatic plurals

Idiomatic Plurals

English has a number of idiomatic plural-only nouns that have to be translated carefully. These are not just nouns that are invariable with number (like "deer"), but rather nouns that cannot refer to a singular thing at all.

For instance, "the pants" can only be plural in English, but the corresponding le pantalon is singular in French. A single pair of pants is not les pantalons, which refers to multiple pairs of pants. Similarly, when translating le pantalon back to English, you can say "the pants" or "a pair of pants", but "a pant" is not correct. This also applies to un jean ("a pair of jeans").

Un vêtement refers to a single article of clothing, and it's incorrect to translate it as "clothes", which is plural and refers to a collection of clothing. This would have to be des vêtements.