-ir verbs (irregular) like ouvrir present tense

A very limited group of verbs with infinitives ending in -ir are irregular, that is, they do not follow the pattern of regular -ir verbs like finir. Verbs like ouvrir are conjugated instead like regular –er verbs.

Verbs conjugated like ouvrir include:

Listen carefully to the pronunciation of the verbs in the following sentences. Note, too, that there is no s in the imperative ‘tu’ form of the second sentence, since it is conjugated like a regular -er verb in the imperative.

direct object pronouns

A direct object is a noun following the verb that answers the questions ‘what?’ or ‘whom?’ Remember a pronoun replaces a noun, and in this case the noun is a direct object. For example, Tammy might ask: ‘Tex, will you kiss me tonight?’, where the direct object pronoun ‘me’ stands for Tammy. Whether a verb takes a direct object or not depends on whether the specific verb is transitive or intransitive.

forms and uses

In front of a word starting with a vowel, le and la become l’; me becomes m’; te becomes t’.

Direct object pronouns in French agree in number and gender with the nouns they replace.

Note that le/l’ can replace an adjective or a verb.

placement

Direct object pronouns precede the verb of which they are the object. In a composed tense (like the passé composé), the pronoun precedes the auxiliary. In infinitive constructions, the pronoun goes immediately before the infinitive. When the conjugated verb is negative, the ne precedes the object pronoun.

In the negative imperative, the pronoun follows the normal placement before the verb. However, in the affirmative imperative, the object pronoun goes after the verb and is attached to it by a hyphen. In addition, me and te become moi and toi.

agreement of the past participle

The past participle agrees in gender and in number with a preceding direct object. In other words, if the direct object pronoun is feminine, add an e to the end of the past participle; if the pronoun is masculine plural, add an s (unless the past participle already ends in s); if it is feminine plural, add es.

indirect object pronouns

forms and uses

An indirect object is a person which receives the action of a verb indirectly. In French the indirect object is always preceded by the preposition à and in English by the preposition ‘to’ : Tex offre des fleurs à Tammy. (Tex gives flowers to Tammy.) An indirect object pronoun indicates à + a person. In the sentence ‘Tex offre des fleurs à Tammy’, ‘Tammy’ is the indirect object. The indirect object pronoun that replaces ‘à Tammy’ is lui: Tex lui offre des fleurs. (Tex gives flowers to her.) Following are the French indirect object pronouns:

In front of a word starting with a vowel, me and te become m’ and t’.

placement

An indirect object pronoun is placed just before the verb of which it is the object. In a composed tense (like the passé composé), the pronoun precedes the auxiliary. In infinitive constructions, the pronoun goes immediately before the infinitive. When the conjugated verb is negative, the ne precedes the object pronoun. Note that, in compound tenses (such as the passé composé), there is no agreement between the past participle and the indirect object. In the affirmative imperative, the indirect object pronoun is placed after the verb it is the object of and attached to it by a hyphen. In addition, me and te become moi and toi.

imparfait: formation

The imperfect tense (l’imparfait), one of several past tenses in French, is used to describe states of being and habitual actions in the past. It also has several idiomatic uses.

stem

The stem of the imparfait is the first person plural (nous) form of the present tense, minus the -ons. The imparfait stem is regular for all verbs except être:

endings

To the stem, add the endings -ais, –ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, and -aient. Listen carefully to the pronunciation of the verbs danser, finir and être in the imparfait tense. Note that -ais, -ais, -ait, and -aient are all pronounced alike. That means that the singular forms and 3rd person plural (the boot) all sound the same!

Stem changing verbs like voyager and commencer add an e or ç to maintain the soft g or s sound, before imparfait endings which begin with a (je voyageais, tu voyageais, il / elle / on voyageait, ils / elles voyageaient), in other words, before all forms except nous and vous (nous voyagions, vous voyagiez).

The imparfait of pronominal verbs is regular, with the addition of the reflexive pronoun:

The negation is formed as usual by placing ne … pas around the conjugated verb: Je ne dansais pas (I wasn’t dancing / I didn’t used to dance), Tu ne t’amusais pas (You weren’t having a good time / You didn’t used to have a good time).

Listen to Tex describing his morning:

imparfait: states of being, habitual actions

The imperfect tense (l’imparfait) has two primary uses: to describe on-going actions and states of being in the past, and to state habitual actions in the past. The imparfait also has several idiomatic uses. The passé composé and imparfait are each used quite differently in narration.

states of being or past description

The imparfait is used to describe people, places, conditions or situations in the past. Some verbs occur more frequently in the imparfait when they are in the past since they typically describe states of being: être, avoir, vouloir, pouvoir. But these verbs do sometimes occur in the passé composé.

habitual actions in the past

The imparfait is also used to state habitual actions in the past. These past habits are often translated as ‘used to, or ‘would.’ Distinguish between the use of ‘would’ for habitual past actions (imparfait) and the use of ‘would’ for the conditional. Note that the imparfait may also be translated by the simple past in English; however, the context, and often adverbs, let you know the action is a past habit.

Listen to Edouard reminiscing:

imparfait: idiomatic uses

The imperfect tense (l’imparfait) has two primary uses: to describe on-going actions or states of being in the past, and to state habitual actions in the past. The imparfait also has several idiomatic uses found in the following contexts:

suggestions

The imparfait is used to suggest an action in phrases beginning with Si on … ?

wishes

The imparfait is used to express wishes such as ‘If only we didn’t have a test this week!’ The French equivalent structure, si + imparfait, may, or may not, contain the adverb seulement:

Note that the question mark at the end of the sentence indicates a suggestion, and the exclamation mark a wish. In spoken French, however, you have to rely on context and intonation to distinguish between wish and suggestion. Listen to the difference in intonation between these two sentences:

For other uses of si + imparfait, see si clauses + conditional. The imparfait also occurs in idiomatic uses with depuis and venir de.