Infinitives

What are verbs?

Verbs are action words that express the action (He runs) or state of being (I am tired) of a sentence.

French verbs have to be “conjugated”  that is, changed according to how they are used.

The basic form of a verb is called the infinitive The English infinitive is “to” followed by a verb, while the French infinitive is a single word with one of three infinitive endings (-er, –ir, or –re). These can then be further divided into regular verbs, which follow a standard pattern of verb conjugations, and irregular verbs, which don’t:

1. –er  parler  (to speak)

2. –ir  finir  (to finish)

3. –re  vendre  (to sell)

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Introduction to French Level I Copyright © by philippe1 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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