French Note 15.
FRENCH VERBS
I want to do notes on French verbs systematically . The following will be the plan.
1. The three groups
2. The three voices
3. The six moods
4. The twenty tenses
5. The model verbs
While dealing with the subject , there may be overlapping of topics. But I shall try my best to ensure absolute clarity.
Let us start with the three groups.
When we name a verb in English , we mention it's form as infinitive . Examples are
To be, to have, to do, to make , to go, to come etc.
Similarly in French , we first learn the infinitive form. By identifying the infinitive form we broadly group French verbs into three categories. You may call them verbs of First group. Second Group and Third group.
All verbs whose infinitive form end in -ER belong to the first group. Fortunately , these are maximum in French. There are around 10000 first group verbs. Whenever new verbs are added, they will always be in the first group. In recent times, the following new verbs were added to French ."informatiser, positiver, scannériser etc".
The second group of verbs end in - IR. Example " FINIR ". There are around 300 verbs belonging to the second group. In 20th century only two new verbs were added to this group. They are " amerrir , alunir ".( to land in sea , to land in moon)Remember that the present participle of the second group of verb will end in - issant .
The third group of verbs may have any of the following endings.
" IR" ," OIR" ," RE"
The present participle of the third group of verbs will end in " ANT". They are around 200 in number. All the irregular verbs belong to this group. The most prominent among them are
Devoir, dire, faire etc. Generally students find this group of verbs difficult to master.
THREE VOICES
1. Active voice
Rama aime Sita.
Rama aime qui ?
Sita
Elle écrit une lettre.
Elle écrit quoi ?
Une lettre.
You already know about active voice in English. It is the same thing in French also.
When you ask a question like who or what , the answer you get is a direct object.
Any sentence will have a subject and a verb. The subject performs an action and the action i
Is indicated by the verb. When you put the question who or what like,
Rama loves who ?
Sita
She writes what?
A letter
You get the direct object.
In such cases, the verbs are in ACTIVE VOICE.
2. PASSIVE VOICE
Sita est aimée par Rama.
Une lettre est écrite par elle.
The examples in active voice have been written in another way by mentioning the action suffered by the subject and the agent of the action mentioned after " par"
Sita is loved by Rama.
A letter is written by her.
Now you understood the passive voice form of the verb.
3. PRONOMINAL VOICE
Observe the following sentences , paying special attention to the verb forms.
Elle se lève.
Elle s'habille.
Alice et Marie se parlent .Alice and Marie talk to each other.
Le livre , " le suicide francais " écrit par Éric Zemmour se vend bien.
The book " the French suicide" by Eric Zemmour is being sold well.
The "se" in the first two sentences refer to " Elle ". The verb under such circumstances is called a reflexive verb.
In the third sentence " se " refers to Alice and Marie. The verb acts on each of them . In other words , action is done by both. Both talk. Hence the verb is known as reciprocal verb.
In the last sentence, the verb has a meaning of passive voice. The sentence means , " the book , " the French suicide " by Eric Zemmour is being sold well "
All these verbs are grouped under Pronomial verb because of the pronom " se" which will change according to the person of the subject, first , second , third ,as well as number.
This is just an introduction. Later we will study these in depth. I wanted you to learn that the pronomial verbs fall into three groups.
More will follow in subsequent notes.
Sayee Jayaraman
22/01/2015
FRENCH VERBS
I want to do notes on French verbs systematically . The following will be the plan.
1. The three groups
2. The three voices
3. The six moods
4. The twenty tenses
5. The model verbs
While dealing with the subject , there may be overlapping of topics. But I shall try my best to ensure absolute clarity.
Let us start with the three groups.
When we name a verb in English , we mention it's form as infinitive . Examples are
To be, to have, to do, to make , to go, to come etc.
Similarly in French , we first learn the infinitive form. By identifying the infinitive form we broadly group French verbs into three categories. You may call them verbs of First group. Second Group and Third group.
All verbs whose infinitive form end in -ER belong to the first group. Fortunately , these are maximum in French. There are around 10000 first group verbs. Whenever new verbs are added, they will always be in the first group. In recent times, the following new verbs were added to French ."informatiser, positiver, scannériser etc".
The second group of verbs end in - IR. Example " FINIR ". There are around 300 verbs belonging to the second group. In 20th century only two new verbs were added to this group. They are " amerrir , alunir ".( to land in sea , to land in moon)Remember that the present participle of the second group of verb will end in - issant .
The third group of verbs may have any of the following endings.
" IR" ," OIR" ," RE"
The present participle of the third group of verbs will end in " ANT". They are around 200 in number. All the irregular verbs belong to this group. The most prominent among them are
Devoir, dire, faire etc. Generally students find this group of verbs difficult to master.
THREE VOICES
1. Active voice
Rama aime Sita.
Rama aime qui ?
Sita
Elle écrit une lettre.
Elle écrit quoi ?
Une lettre.
You already know about active voice in English. It is the same thing in French also.
When you ask a question like who or what , the answer you get is a direct object.
Any sentence will have a subject and a verb. The subject performs an action and the action i
Is indicated by the verb. When you put the question who or what like,
Rama loves who ?
Sita
She writes what?
A letter
You get the direct object.
In such cases, the verbs are in ACTIVE VOICE.
2. PASSIVE VOICE
Sita est aimée par Rama.
Une lettre est écrite par elle.
The examples in active voice have been written in another way by mentioning the action suffered by the subject and the agent of the action mentioned after " par"
Sita is loved by Rama.
A letter is written by her.
Now you understood the passive voice form of the verb.
3. PRONOMINAL VOICE
Observe the following sentences , paying special attention to the verb forms.
Elle se lève.
Elle s'habille.
Alice et Marie se parlent .Alice and Marie talk to each other.
Le livre , " le suicide francais " écrit par Éric Zemmour se vend bien.
The book " the French suicide" by Eric Zemmour is being sold well.
The "se" in the first two sentences refer to " Elle ". The verb under such circumstances is called a reflexive verb.
In the third sentence " se " refers to Alice and Marie. The verb acts on each of them . In other words , action is done by both. Both talk. Hence the verb is known as reciprocal verb.
In the last sentence, the verb has a meaning of passive voice. The sentence means , " the book , " the French suicide " by Eric Zemmour is being sold well "
All these verbs are grouped under Pronomial verb because of the pronom " se" which will change according to the person of the subject, first , second , third ,as well as number.
This is just an introduction. Later we will study these in depth. I wanted you to learn that the pronomial verbs fall into three groups.
More will follow in subsequent notes.
Sayee Jayaraman
22/01/2015
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