In addition to the auxiliary verbs avoir and tre, French has a number of semi-auxiliary verbs.

Semi-auxiliary verbs are conjugated in order to express various nuances of time, mood, or aspect and are followed by an infinitive. Some semi-auxiliary verbs are equivalent to modal verbs in English and some are verbs of perception. Here are uses and meanings of some common French semi-auxiliary verbs: Aller (in present or imperfect tense) to be going to Je vais tudier - I'm going to study J'allais tudier - I was going to study (any tense) to go to/and: Va chercher les cls - Go and look for the keys Je suis all voir mon frre - I went to see my brother (any tense) used to emphasize the verb that follows: Je n'irai pas rpondre cela - I'm not going to dignify that with a response Je vais te dire une chose - Let me tell you something Lesson on aller Devoir (any tense except conditional and past conditional) indicates obligation or necessity J'ai d partir - I had to leave Tu dois manger - You must eat (conditional) should; (past conditional) should have Je devrais partir - I should leave Il aurait d nous aider - He should have helped us

Lesson on devoir Faillir indicates that something almost happened Il a failli tomber - He almost fell J'ai failli rater l'examen - I nearly failed the test Lesson on faillir Faire (causative construction) to make something happen, have something done, make someone do something J'ai fait laver la voiture - I had the car washed Il me fait tudier - He's making me study Lesson on faire Laisser to let something happen, let someone do something Vas-tu me laisser sortir ? - Are you going to let me go out? Laisse-moi le faire - Let me do it Lesson on laisser Manquer (followed by optional de) indicates that something was about to happen or nearly happened J'ai manqu (de) mourir - I almost died Elle a manqu (de) pleurer - She nearly cried Lesson on manquer Paratre to appear/seem to a parat tre une erreur - That appears to be an error

Il paraissait tre malade - He seemed to be sick Lesson on paratre Partir to leave in order to, to go to Peux-tu partir acheter du pain ? - Could you go out and buy some bread? Il est parti tudier en Italie - He went to study in Italy Lesson on partir Passer to call/drop in on, call for, to go to Passe me chercher demain - Come pick me up tomorrow Il va passer voir ses amis - He's going to drop in on his friends Lesson on passer Pouvoir can, may, might, to be able to Je peux vous aider - I can help you Il peut tre prt - He might be ready Lesson on pouvoir Savoir to know how to Sais-tu nager ? - Do you know how to swim? Je ne sais pas lire - I don't know how to read Lesson on savoir Sembler to seem/appear to Cela semble indiquer que - That seems to indicate that La machine semble fonctionner - The machine appears to be working

Lesson on sembler Sortir de (informal) to have just done something On sort de manger - We just ate Il sortait de finir - He had just finished Lesson on sortir Venir to come (in order) to Je suis venu aider - I've come to help venir - to happen to David est venu arriver - David happened to arrive venir de - to have just done something Je viens de me lever - I just got up Lesson on venir Vouloir to want to Je ne veux pas lire a - I don't want to read that Veux-tu sortir ce soir ? - Do you want to go out tonight? Lesson on vouloir Continued from Page 1) Semi-auxiliary verbs are conjugated in order to express various nuances of time, mood, or aspect and are followed by an infinitive. The French auxiliary verbs avoir and tre can also be used as semi-auxiliary verbs: Avoir

When followed by + infinitive, avoir means "to have to": Vous avez rpondre - You have to respond J'ai tudier - I have to study Lesson on avoir tre tre is used in a number of expressions as a semi-auxiliary: tre - to be in the process of Es-tu partir ? - Are you leaving? tre cens - to be supposed to Je suis cens travailler - I'm supposed to work tre en passe de - to be about to (usually indicates something positive) Je suis en passe de me marier - I'm about to get married tre en train de - to be in the process of, to be doing something right now On est en train de manger - We're eating (right now) tre loin de - to not be about/going to Je suis loin de te mentir - I'm not about to lie to you tre pour - to be ready/prepared/willing to Je ne suis pas pour voler - I'm not willing to steal tre prs de - to be about to, ready to Es-tu prs de partir - Are you about to leave? tre sur le point de - to be about to (positive or negative) Il est sur le point de tomber - He's about to fall Lesson on tre

More Semi-Auxiliary Verbs Any verb that can be followed by an infinitive can be a semi-auxiliary, including (but not limited to) adorer - to adore doing aimer - to like, love doing (s')arrter de - to stop doing continuer /de - to continue to do croire - to believe (that one) does demander de - to ask to dtester - to hate doing dire ( qqun) de - to tell (someone) to do esprer - to hope to do falloir - to be necessary to do interdire ( qqun) de - to forbid (someone) to do penser - to be thinking of, to consider doing permettre - to allow to do promettre - to promise to do prfrer - to prefer doing refuser de - to refuse to do risquer de - to risk doing souhaiter - to hope to do voir - to see (someone) do, to see (something) done adorer - to adore doing aimer - to like, love doing (s')arrter de - to stop doing continuer /de - to continue to do croire - to believe (that one) does demander de - to ask to dtester - to hate doing dire ( qqun) de - to tell (someone) to do esprer - to hope to do falloir - to be necessary to do interdire ( qqun) de - to forbid (someone) to do penser - to be thinking of, to consider doing permettre - to allow to do promettre - to promise to do prfrer - to prefer doing refuser de - to refuse to do risquer de - to risk doing souhaiter - to hope to do voir - to see (someone) do, to see (something) done Word Order with Semi-Auxiliary Verbs

Semi-auxiliary verbs are used in what I refer to as dual-verb constructions - read my lesson on word order with dual-verb constructions. Agreement with Semi-Auxiliary Verbs In semi-auxiliary verb constructions, any direct object belongs to the infinitive, not the semi-auxiliary. Therefore, there is never any past participle agreement with the direct object.* It's a decision that I hated to make RIGHT: C'est une dcision que j'ai dtest prendre WRONG: "C'est une dcision que j'ai dteste prendre" Here are the books that I wanted to read RIGHT: Voici les livres que j'ai voulu lire WRONG: "Voici les livres que j'ai voulus lire" *However, there may be other kinds of agreement: With the subject of the sentence, if the auxiliary verb of the semi-auxiliary is tre (eg, nous sommes venus aider) With the subject of the infinitive - see agreement with French verbs of perception