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Bonjour! Today we will explore how to change French verbs that end in -ir and -re into the present tense.
In French, action words are called verbs. Verbs in their starting form are called infinitives, and they end in letters like -ir or -re. To use them in a sentence, we must chop off those endings and add new ones that match the subject.
Let us look at -ir verbs like 'choisir' (to choose). First, we chop off the '-ir' to find the stem 'chois-'. Then, we add special endings: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, or -issent.
Now, let us look at -re verbs like 'vendre' (to sell). We chop off '-re' to get the stem 'vend-'. The endings for -re verbs are -s, -s, nothing (just keep the stem!), -ons, -ez, and -ent.
Change the French verb 'finir' (to finish) to match the subject 'nous' (we).
- Identify the verb category. 'Finir' ends in -ir, so it is a regular -ir verb.
- Find the stem. Chop off the -ir ending from 'finir' to get the stem 'fin-'.
- Look up the ending for 'nous' with -ir verbs. The correct ending is -issons.
- Glue the stem and the new ending together. 'fin-' + '-issons' becomes 'finissons'.
- Write your final sentence. 'Nous finissons' means 'We are finishing'!