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) |