LEARNING FRENCH

THROUGH ENGLISH: BASIC

GRAMMAR DIFFERENCES
For older student to adult English-speakers who want to be able to learn French
through English, you will need to take the time to learn French grammar.
You probably don’t want to hear this, but brushing up on your English grammar first
will help you get the basic concepts of grammar in French down better and more
quickly.
There are a few quirks, but fortunately French grammar rules don’t differ from
English in any truly dramatic ways. For example, here is what is the same between
English and French:
 In French simple sentence is still in subject-verb–object order (subject of the
sentence followed by the action, followed by what the action is done to, if any).
 French uses articles before nouns (the/a) just like English does.
 You can ask questions using the inverted verb-subject order, though just like in
English, you can also raise your pitch at the end of a sentence to indicate a question
as well.
 All the basic sentence elements, including adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
exclamations, exist in French in much the same way they do in English.
However, there are the important differences in French grammar compared to
English grammar that you should be aware of. Here is an overview of the most
important distinctions:
 MORE DIFFERENCES AND DETAILS
Below are more details on the differences between the two languages, along with
some clarifications.
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
Adjective-noun order: Adjectives (usually) go after the noun, not before. So, it’s a
green car in English, but une voiture verte in French. The only exception is a handful
of very common adjectives, such as bon, nouveau, and grand.
Noun gender: In French, all nouns are either masculine or feminine and either
singular or plural. This alters the adjectives and articles that describe them. As in the
example above, voiture is feminine, so it gets the feminine indefinite article
(une instead of un) and the feminine version of vert, verte. If you were
describing deux (“two”) voitures, the adjectives would
be bonnes or vertes or grandes.
VERBS
Future and conditional verb tenses: French has distinct conjugations for
many verb tenses, including the future and conditional tenses. This means that
where you would say “will + verb” or “would + verb” as in English (such as “I would
leave” or “They will call”) to indicate that an action will be performed in the future or
on a conditional basis, in French every verb has its own future and conditional
forms.
 For example j’irai is “I will go”, which is future tense, and j’irais is “I would go”,
which is the conditional tense. Luckily, the verb forms are usually regular and easy
to memorize.
Verb tenses that don’t (or barely) exist in English: The two biggest verb tense
differences are 1) addressing the two types of basic past tense (passé composé and
the imparfait), and 2) the subjunctive mood. The sentence characteristics to
recognize to help you decide whether to use passé
composé versus the imparfait tense are fairly easily learned and straightforward. As
a general rule, passé composé is used for specific, singular actions that occurred in
the past, while imparfait is for mood setting and on-going actions. You probably
won’t get it right 100% of the time, but you can get to about 90-95% accuracy with
practice.
The subjonctif is something French teachers will tell you is a mood and not a tense,
but since it has its own conjugation rules, the difference is essentially an academic
exercise. You definitely need to recognize it, but you can get away without using the
subjunctive tense yourself to an extent. We would suggest sidestepping it for now
and coming back to it when you have the major other verbs down. You can’t avoid
using the subjunctive forever, as there are certain sentence structures that require
the subjunctive and you won’t want to be limited in your ability to communicate, but it
can be delayed for a while.
PRONOUNS
Indirect and direct object pronouns: Do you remember direct objects and indirect
objects from grammar lessons in school? Take a sentence like
“I brought the books [direct object] to my friend [indirect object].”
This sentence, when translated to French, is in exactly the same order.
“J’ai apporté les livres [direct object] à mon ami [indirect object].”
All is well, and shouldn’t even have to think about direct objects versus indirect
objects. The difference comes in when you use pronouns to replace the direct and
indirect nouns– e.g.,
“I took them to him.”
In that instance, the two pronouns that replace “the books” and “my friend” actually
go before the verb.
So the sentence would be, “Je les lui ai apporté”.
Not exactly an instinctive structure for an English speaker, but definitely learnable!
The plural “you”: In English, there are regional variations of “you” to indicate the
speaker is addressing more than one person – for example, “y’all” and “you guys”,
among many others. These phrases exist because English doesn’t have two
different words to specify whether the “you” is one person or many. That problem is
solved in French! There’s tu for addressing a single person, and vous for addressing
more than one (and also used instead of tu toward a single person to show
politeness).
WHAT’S NEXT?
Hopefully none of this scared you off learning French entirely. Like any other
language, you’ll take it one lesson at a time. If you get overwhelmed at any point you
can just keep reading and practicing the parts you already know until you’re
comfortable moving forward again.
If you’re ready to start learning some French, the best place to start is probably with
the same topic that almost all textbooks do: the present tense! Have fun!

PRESENT TENSE
The French present tense, as in other languages, is the most basic verb tense, and
the one that is easiest to start with when learning French. It is also the most useful
for communicating basic concepts or having simple conversations.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT TENSE
Just like in English, the subject of a sentence changes the verb’s ending in present
tense. For example:
“I talk”, but “she talks”
“You speak”, but “he speaks”
French is the same way – the verb will have a different ending depending on the
subject that goes in front of it (though there are more variations to memorize).
On this website and in most French learning textbooks, verb conjugations are
placed in a simple chart:
singular plural

first person je* (I) nous (we)

second person tu (you) vous (you)**

third person il/elle (he/she/it) ils/elles (they)

*Note that je is not capitalized, unlike “I” in English
**Vous is also used as a formal “you”, as to a stranger or superior.
Once you have this order memorized, it will be easy to learn the conjugation of a
new verb by the location of each conjugation form in the chart.
For regular verbs (those that follow a set pattern) – there are simple patterns you
can learn quickly to know the endings. The most common is the –er pattern.
REGULAR VERBS THAT END IN -ER
PARLER (“TO SPEAK”)

je parle nous parlons

tu parles vous parlez

il/elle parle ils/elles parlent

Note that the highlighted cells (what some French courses teach as “the boot”
because of the “L” shape it makes on the chart) are all pronounced the same way,
with endings that are silent, despite the difference in the spellings. The last sound
you hear for the “boot” conjugations in parler, for instance, is the l. Only nous
parlons (pahr-LON) and vous parlez (pahr-LAY) are pronounced differently, with
endings you can hear.
While the verbs that end in -er are the most common pattern of French verbs, there
are two other major verb patterns: -ir and -re verbs.
REGULAR -IR VERBS
CHOISIR (“TO CHOOSE”)

je choisis nous choisissons

tu choisis vous choisissez

il/elle choisit ils/elles choisissent

Though the singular side of the chart just gets an -is or -it ending, things get a little
weird on the plural side of the chart. An -iss + the regular -er ending gets added,
creating –issons, –issez and –issenton the nous, vous and ils forms. With
the s doubled on the plural side of the conjugation chart, it means you do pronounce
the iss (but not the -ent at the very end of the ils/elles conjugation, which never gets
pronounced).
On the singular side, the final s or t is not pronounced, but the i is, so all three forms
are pronounced the same way (shwah-ZEE). On the plural side, both parts of the -
issons and –issezending are pronounced (ee-SON) and (ee-SAY). On the third
person plural side, choisissent is pronounced “shwah-ZEESE”)
Examples of other -ir verbs include finir, partir, venir, and courir.

REGULAR -RE VERBS

METTRE (“TO PUT”)

je mets nous mettons

tu mets vous mettez

il/elle met ils/elles mettent

For -re verbs, the singular side, is, again, all pronounced the same way, because
the –s on the end of the first-person and second-person forms is not pronounced.
Also notice the doubling of the last consonant before the -re ending on the right-
hand side of the chart, which means you pronounce the last consonant of
the ils/elles conjugation (but never the -entending).
Examples of other -re verbs include prendre, connaître, mourir, and offrir.
IMPORTANT IRREGULAR VERBS IN PRESENT TENSE
Though many more verbs in French follow a logical pattern than in English, some
common verbs have evolved over time to have irregular verb conjugations that you
just have to memorize. The four most important to know are être (“to be”)
and avoir (“to have”).
ÊTRE (“TO BE”)
 je suis nous sommes

tu es vous êtes

il/elle est ils/elles sont

AVOIR (“TO HAVE”)

j‘ai nous avons

tu as vous avez

il/elle a ils/elles ont

ALLER (“TO GO”)

je vais nous allons

tu vas vous allez

il/elle va ils/elles vont

FAIRE (“TO MAKE OR DO”)

je fais nous faisons

tu fais vous faîtes

il/elle fait ils/elles font

OTHER PRESENT TENSE VERB PATTERNS
Other verb patterns consist of small groups of verbs conjugated in the same way, so
it’s easiest to memorize each group together rather than as separate conjugations.
DORMIR/SERVIR/SORTIR
For these verbs, you add back the final consonant in the plural forms before tacking
on the normal -ons, -ez, -ent endings.
 DORMIR

je dors nous dormons

tu dors vous dormez

il/elle dort ils/elles dorment

POUVOIR/VOULOIR
These verbs get an unusual eu form for the “boot”, with an -x ending for je and tu,
and ils/elles takes the je form, minus the x, plus the final consonant + –ent. As
mentioned in the side box, the change for the plural form happens because nous +
the hypothetical “peuxons” wouldn’t be a strong enough sound, with that soft eu and
“z” sound that the x makes, to support the right-hand side verb endings.
As for where the –eu- for the boot forms comes from in the first place, we have no
idea. You’ll just have to memorize it.
POUVOIR

je peux nous pouvons

tu peux vous pouvez

il/elle peut ils/elles peuvent

UNDERSTANDING WHY: IRREGULAR VERB PATTERNS
Many verb irregularities happen because the final sound when pronounced would be
too soft and insubstantial if the structure didn’t change for the plural forms. French is
a language where the sound of a word is very important, and the plural forms need a
strong consonant to support the additional syllables.
For example, having just the r alone in nous + the hypothetical conjugation “dorons”
isn’t a strong enough sound to support that -ons ending, so the “m” that we dropped
on the singular side gets tacked back on to the plural side to provide support.

PASSÉ COMPOSÉ (PERFECT TENSE)

MAY 28, 2012 | FRENCH GRAMMAR

The French passé composé, or past perfect tense, is the most common tense for
talking about the past. It’s a two-part verb tense, meaning you need a helping verb
and a past participle to form it.
In other words, the Past Perfect Tense = Helping Verb + Past Participle
USING THE HELPING VERB
The helping verb used for almost all verbs is the present tense conjugation
of avoir for whatever the subject of the sentence is. Below, we discuss the
exceptions to this rule that are conjugated with the present tense of etre as the the
helping verb instead.
FORMING THE PAST PARTICIPLE WITH REGULAR VERBS
The past participle is a special form of the verb of the sentence. Its form will not
change, no matter what the conjugation of the helping verb is. Most past participles
of French verbs them fall into set patterns, but some are irregular and you will have
to memorize.
-ER VERBS
Drop the –er, add é
Manger: Tu manges → Tu as mangé
-IR VERBS
Drop the –ir, add i
Choisir: Il choisit → Il a choisi
-RE VERBS
Drop the –re, add u
Vendre:Vous vendez → Vous avez vendu
IRREGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES
Just like most other verb forms, the French perfect tense conjugations of certain
common verbs are irregular. Many fall into recognizable groups based on their
endings. For example:
Rire: Je ris → j’ai ri and Sourire: je souris → J’ai souri
Ouvrir: J’ouvre → j’ai ouvert and Couvrir: je couvre → J’ai couvert
Verb Form Past Participle
avoir eu
être été
dire dit
écrire écrit
faire fait
rire rit
venir venu
tenir tenu
ouvrir ouvert
couvrir couvert
 connaître connu
naître né
rire ri
sourire souri
boire bu
croire cru
prendre pris
mettre mis
vivre vécu
boire bu
croire cru
Okay, once you have all that down, are you ready to be thoroughly confused? You
may have noticed that there are some important verbs missing from our list up there.
Most noticeably, there’s no aller, one of our fundamental verbs, on that list.
Why not? Because a select few verbs don’t get conjugated with the
conjugation of avoir. It’s a limited list, don’t worry, but some vital verbs you should
learn are on that list.
To make sense of past tense in French, think of the avoir conjugation in this lesson
as the general rule. The vast majority of verbs will follow it. If you are presented with
a verb that’s not on the list in the next lesson, the method in this lesson is how you
should conjugate it.
HOWEVER, that means you also have to learn the “exception” verbs in the next
lesson. Luckily, they’re only a little more complicated.

IMPERFECT (IMPARFAIT) TENSE

MAR 23, 2012 | FRENCH GRAMMAR

Usually when students of French are learning to speak about events in the past,
they’re first taught passé composé. And it’s easy to mistakenly think that once
you’ve learned passé composé, you’re pretty much covered for past tenses (with the
exception of plus que parfait, talking about one event that happened before another
past event). After all, in English, you’re pretty much either talking in past tense or
you’re not, right?
However, French past verb tenses are a little more complicated than that. In normal,
everyday speaking and writing, you need to distinguish between two types of past
tenses: the passé composéand the French imperfect tense.
WHEN DO YOU USE IMPARFAIT INSTEAD OF PASSÉ COMPOSÉ?
Every time it is necessary to use the past tense in French, you will need to decide
which past tense to use. The imparfait tense is used for…
 Verbs that “set the scene” before specific event verbs happen
 Verbs that don’t relate directly to the chronology of the story
 Verbs that happened continually or habitually
 Verbs that are referring to something that “used to” happen
 Verbs referring to events that were interrupted (Example: “I was reading [imparfait] ,
when the phone rang [passé composé].)
HOW DO YOU CONJUGATE THE IMPERFECT TENSE?
Luckily, conjugating imparfait is very simple. It’s formed from the nous form of a
present tense verb: drop the -ons ending and add on the imparfait endings instead.

As you can see from the animation to the right, the imparfait verb endings are:
je: root + ais nous: root + ions

tu: root + ais vous: root + iez

il: root + ait ils: root + aient

The only exception to the rule of working with the nous form to conjugate the
imperfect tense is the verb être. Its root form in the imperfect tense is ét+verb
ending. The verb endings are just the same as every other French imperfect
conjugation, though.
j’étais nous étions

tu étais vous étiez

il était ils étaient

SPELLING EXCEPTIONS IN IMPARFAIT

Generally, the idea behind the imparfait is that the basic sound (not including the
endings) should be the same for all conjugations of the word. But letters
like g and c can be “hard” or “soft”, depending on the vowel that follows them.
 Verb root forms (the nous form minus the –ons) that end in g are followed by an e if
the next letter would normally be an a (in other words, the je, tu, ils and ils forms) so
that the g sound stays soft. (In French, a g followed by an a would be a hard sound,
but followed by an e it’s a soft sound.) For example, nous mangions (no extra e)
but je mangeais (with an e).
 Verb root forms that end in c change to a cedilla (ç) to keep the c soft if the next
letter would normally be an a (as above, the je/tu/il/ils forms). For example, nous
lancions (no cedilla) but je lançais (cedilla).

SUBJUNCTIVE “TENSE” (LE SUBJONCTIF)

APR 5, 2012 | FRENCH GRAMMAR

There are few topics in learning French that English speakers struggle with more
than the French subjunctive tense. The trouble comes from remembering to make a
distinction in French when English almost never make the distinction.
What many learners don’t realize is the subjunctive does exist in English, albeit in
much fewer circumstance. You probably use it without ever thinking about what
you’re saying. For example:
 “I wish I were smarter.”
 “It is important that you be there on time.”
 “I recommended that he try to be more understanding.”
 “If she were a more organized person, she could have found her book in time for
class.”
 “The professor requested that he speak up more in class.”
Those aren’t the normal conjugations of those verbs in English, yet you know to use
them in certain sentence structures. You will gain that intuitive level of when to use
the subjunctive in French, too, with enough practice.
TENSE OR MOOD?
For our intents it behaves like other tenses, but it is technically a mood because its
purpose is not to convey past, present, or future like the “normal” tenses, but it’s
instead a complete alternative to these tenses. There is also a past subjunctive
tense that will cover in other lessons.
WHAT DOES “SUBJUNCTIVE” MEAN?
Basically, with the subjunctive mood, you inherently (just by using this form) imply
some sort of duty or doubt or emotions or preferences on what “should” be done.
You’re essentially saying something that’s not 100% solid fact.
HOW TO CONJUGATE THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Subjunctive conjugations are thankfully fairly regular. There are a few “stems” that
are different from regular conjugations, but once you have the stems down, they still
usually follow regular patterns. Major exceptions are, as with most verb
conjugations, être and avoir.
REGULAR VERBS
Drop the -ent ending from the ils form of the present tense verb, and add on:
je verb stem + e nous verb stem + ions
 tu verb stem + es vous verb stem + iez

il/elle verb stem + e ils/elles verb stem + ent

Notice that the normal French subjunctive ending pattern is similar to the conditional
verb endings, except the third person plural ending is just -ent, not –aient.
IRREGULAR VERB STEMS
These verbs have irregular stems, but otherwise follow the exact same verb endings
pattern as above.
INFINITIVE VERB SUBJUNCTIVE FORM

faire je fasse / nous fassions

savoir je sache / nous sachions

pouvoir je puisse / nous puissions

TWO-STEM IRREGULAR VERBS

These verbs have one verb stem for the “boot”, (je/tu/il/ils) and another form for
the nous/vousconjugations. The subjunctive verb endings remain the same.
INFINITIVE VERB SUBJUNCTIVE: JE SUBJUNCTIVE: NOUS

boire je boive nous buvions

prendre je prenne nous prenions

venir je vienne nous venions

aller j’aille nous allions

vouloir je veuille nous voulions

 COMPLETELY IRREGULAR FRENCH SUBJUNCTIVE VERBS
The conjugations for être and avoir you’ll just have to memorize. Luckily, they’re
pretty simple.
ÊTRE

je sois nous soyons

tu sois vous soyez

il soit ils soient

AVOIR

j’aie nous ayons

tu aies vous ayez

il ait ils aient

SUBJUNCTIVE “TRIGGER” PHRASES

The list below is divided by “type” of subjunctive phrases, the certain expressions
that “trigger” the subjunctive tense. Some of the most common phrases are listed
below. Notice that all the phrases and verbs listed below end with que. Remember
that if there’s no que or qui, there’s about a 99% certainty it shouldn’t be subjunctive.
For a more complete list of subjunctive verbs and phrases, check out the
“Subjunctivator” on About.com.
SUBJUNCTIVE TRIGGER: DUTY
 il faut que... it is necessary that
 exiger que… to demand that
 ordonner que… to order that
 commander que… to order that
 il est essentiel que… it is essential that
 il est important que… it is important that
 il est naturel que… it is natural that
 il est nécessaire que… it is necessary that
 il est normal que… it is normal that
 il est temps que… it is time that
 il est urgent que… it is urgent that
SUBJUNCTIVE TRIGGER: PREFERENCES
 aimer mieux que… to like better / to prefer that
 désirer que… to desire that
 souhaiter que… to wish that
 tenir à ce que… to insist that
 vouloir que… to want that
SUBJUNCTIVE TRIGGER: EMOTIONS
 avoir honte que… to be ashamed that
 avoir peur que… to be afraid that
 craindre que… to fear that
 détester que… to hate that
 de crainte que… for fear that
 être content que… to be happy that
 être désolé que… to be sorry that
 être heureux que… to be happy that
 être surpris que… to be surprised that
 être triste que… to be sad that
 il est bon que… it is good that
 il est dommage que… it is too bad that
 il est étrange que… it is strange that
 il est heureux que… it is fortunate that
 il est rare que… it is rare that
 il est regrettable que… it is regrettable that
 il est surprenant que… it is surprising that
 il est utile que… it is useful that
 redouter que… to dread that
 regretter que… to regret that
SUBJUNCTIVE TRIGGER: DOUBT/UNCERTAINTY
 il est à souhaiter que… it is to be hoped that
 il est impossible que… it is impossible that
 il est improbable que… it is improbable that
 il n’est pas clair que… it is not clear that
 il n’est pas évident que… it is not obvious that
 il n’est pas probable que… it is improbable that
 il n’est pas sûr que… it is not certain that
 il n’est pas vrai que… it is not true that
 il semble que… it seems that
 il se peut que… it may be that
 à condition que provided that
 à moins que… unless
 à supposer que… assuming that
 afin que… so that
 avant que… before
 bien que… although
 de façon que… so that, in order that, in such a way that
 de manière que… so that
 de peur que… for fear that
 en admettant que… assuming that
 en attendant que… while, until
 encore que… even though
 jusqu’à ce que… until
 où que… wherever
 pour que… so that
 pourvu que… provided that
 quoique… even though
 quoi que… whatever, no matter what
 quel(le) que… whatever
 qui que… whoever
 sans que… without
SUBJUNCTIVE TRIGGER: SUPERLATIVES
 seul…que… only [subject] that
 dernier…que… last [subject] that
 premier…que… first [subject] that

FUTURE (FUTUR) SIMPLE TENSE

APR 30, 2012 | FRENCH GRAMMAR

Since French doesn’t have helping verbs like English does, talking about the future
means you have to use an entirely new verb conjugation, cleverly called le futur
simple, or simple French future tense. Notice the difference in talking about the
future in English versus in French.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE FRENCH FUTURE TENSE

Learning the French future tense isn’t very hard, especially since the future tense
doesn’t have irregular verb endings. It does have a couple dozen irregular root
forms (see below), but every verb in the future tense follows the same ending
pattern, depending on whether it’s singular or plural, and first, second or third person
(just like all other French verb conjugations).
FUTURE TENSE VERB ENDINGS CONJUGATION

je _______ai nous _______ons

tu _______as vous _______ez

 il _______a ils _______ont

Do the future tense verb endings in the “boot” look familiar? They’re the same as the
present tense conjugation of avoir!
The French future “root” form of the verbs is also the same root forms used in the
conditional tense, just with different endings. So you’ll only have to memorize one
root form for each irregular verb, and then just adjust the ending according to
whether it’s the future or conditional tense.
REGULAR FUTURE TENSE VERBS
The “normal” way to conjugate a verb into the future tense is just to add the
endings straight onto the infinitive form of the verb. For example:
parler → je parle (present) → je parlerai (future)
dormir → il dors (present) → il dormira (future)
For verbs that end in –re in the infinitive form, drop the final e.
rendre → je rends (present) → je rendrai (future)
perdre → il perd (present) → il perdra (future)
IRREGULAR FUTURE TENSE VERBS
There are about a dozen common irregular verb root forms, and a few others that
are “partially” irregular (usually this means they change in the “boot”, and have
regular conjugations in the nousand vous forms).
FUTURE
IRREGULAR TENSE ROOT
VERB FORM
etre ser-
avoir aur-
falloir faudr-
aller ir-
faire fer-
devoir devr-
pouvoir pourr-
savoir saur-
viendr- (same
format for
devenir and
venir revenir)
vouloir voudr-
voir verr-
pleuvoir pleuvr-
valoir vaudr-
SPELLING CHANGES IN FUTURE TENSE
There are a few other verbs that change spelling slightly to accommodate the future
(and conditional tense) conjugations while keeping the pronunciation intact.
 1) DOUBLING THE FINAL CONSONANT
 Appeler → appeller + future ending and rappeler → rappeller + future ending
 Jeter → jetter + future ending and projeter → projetter + future ending
2) CERTAIN VERBS THAT END IN -YER
Replace the y with an i instead.
 Essayer, envoyer, ennuyer, nettoyer, payer
 For example, nettoyer → “je nettoierai”
3) CHANGING THE E TO AN ACCENT GRAVE È
For verb spellings that would make the second to last e not pronounced, the e gets
an accent grave èto make it a substantial sound.
 Amener, promener, lever, acheter, emmener
 For example, promener → “je promènerai”

CONDITIONAL (CONDITIONNEL) TENSE

MAR 27, 2012 | FRENCH GRAMMAR

The conditional tense exists in English, but most native speakers don’t consciously
think about it, because it’s not a distinct conjugation, per se. As the term implies,
the conditional tense is what you use when you’re saying that one event depends on
another event to happen. In English, the word “would” is usually involved.
I would have called [conditional tense] my mom if I’d had my phone with me.
He wouldn’t go [conditional tense] unless I promised to buy him a toy.
In French, the conditional is also used to make polite requests or polite desires
with vouloir and aimer.
Would you like to come with me? (“Voudriez-vous venir avec moi?”)
I would love to go with you. (“J’aimerais bien aller avec vous.”)
CONJUGATION OF THE CONDITIONAL
In French, the conditional tense (le conditionnel) is a distinct tense with a distinct
conjugation pattern.
CONDITIONAL VERB
ENDINGS
(je) -ais (nous) -ions
(tu) -ais (vous) -iez
(il) -ait (ils) -aient
REGULAR CONDITIONAL VERBS
Conjugation of regular conditional verbs is simple. Simply take the infinitive root form
+ the appropriate conditional endings (above).
For example:
 The verb nager is je nage in present tense and becomes je nagerais in the
conditional.
The verb chasser is nous chassons in the present tense and
becomes nous chasserions in the conditional.
IRREGULAR CONDITIONAL VERBS
The same verbs that are irregular in future tense are also irregular in conditional
tense, so you only need to learn one set of irregular verbs and root forms between
the two verb tenses. Here are most of the common irregular verbs in conditional:
IRREGULAR CONDITIONAL
VERB ROOT FORM
etre ser-
avoir aur-
falloir faudr-
aller ir-
faire fer-
devoir devr-
pouvoir pourr-
savoir saur-
viendr- (same
format for
devenir and
venir revenir)
vouloir voudr-
voir verr-
pleuvoir pleuvr-
valoir vaudr-
SPELLING CHANGES IN CONDITIONAL FORMS
There are a few other verbs that change spelling slightly to accommodate the
conditional conjugations while keeping the pronunciation intact.
1) DOUBLING THE FINAL CONSONANT
 Appeler → appeller + conditional ending and rappeler → rappeller + conditional
ending
 Jeter → jetter + conditional ending and projeter → projetter + conditional ending
2) CERTAIN VERBS THAT END IN -YER
Replace the y with an i instead.
 Essayer, envoyer, ennuyer, nettoyer, payer
 For example, nettoyer → nettoier + conditional ending (“je nettoierais”)
3) CHANGING THE E TO AN ACCENT GRAVE È
For verb spellings that would make the second to last e not pronounced, the e gets
an accent grave èto make it a substantial sound.
 Amener, promener, lever, acheter, emmener
 For example, promener → promèner + conditional ending (“je promènerais”)