Putting It Together

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Putting It Together An ER verb assembly kit
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation
So what is conjugation? What does conjugate
mean?
In grammatical terms, its
Taking the regular form of the verb (such as to
have, to eat, to dance, to speak, etc) and
changing it to agree with the subject of the verb
(the person/object performing the action)?
Lost? Dont you worry. We conjugate verbs in
English every day! How???
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation
Watch carefully as our verb repair specialty crew
conjugates an English verb in the present tense.
to be
I am We are You are
You (pl) are He/She is
They are
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Verb Conjugation
Dont they do excellent work? Here are some
other familiar projects
to eat
to dance
I dance We dance You dance You (pl)
dance He/She dances They dance
I eat We eat You eat You (pl)
eat He/She eats They eat
Is it making sense yet? We change to dance to
dance or dances depending on who were
talking about (I, You, They). The same goes for
to eat. Try a few on your own
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you
will need to know the following 4 terms
The person or thing doing the action (je, vous,
la télé)?
Subject-
Infinitive-
The verb by itself danser, parler, inviter,
regarder
What others can you name?
travailler
habiter
organiser
écouter
chanter
Stem-
The verb without the er dans, parl, invit,
regard
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories
And most importantly
The combination of letters that we put in place
of the er that we dropped earlier. Each
pronoun has its own ending to be used. Below is
a chart that gives these endings
Ending-
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories
parler
jouer
Je
Nous
Je
Nous
Tu
Vous
Tu
Vous
Il/Elle
Ils/Elles
Il/Elle
Ils/Elles
habiter
aimer
Je
Je
Nous
Nous
Tu
Tu
Vous
Vous
Il/Elle
Ils/Elles
Il/Elle
Ils/Elles
Go to the next page to see how you did!
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La Conjugaison des Verbes Parts and Accessories
parler
jouer
Je parle
Nous parlons
Je joue
Nous jouons
Tu parles
Vous parlez
Tu joues
Vous jouez
Ils/Elles parlent
Il/Elle joue
Il/Elle parle
Ils/Elles jouent
habiter
aimer
Jhabite
Jaime
Nous aimons
Nous habitons
Tu habites
Tu aimes
Vous aimez
Vous habitez
Il/Elle aime
Ils/Elles aiment
Il/Elle habite
Ils/Elles habitent
How did you do? Ready for a new twist?
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Parts Review Surveying the Foundation
You should know the following terms before
proceeding
-conjugate -subject -infinitive -stem -ending
Remember, when putting something together, its
always better to have a strong foundation than a
weak one. You want what you are making to last,
right? Make sure your foundation is strong
before you begin further building.
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La Règle de TROIS The Rule of THREE
Most conjugated forms of an ER verb sound the
same (even though their spellings are different),
so you only have to learn THREE pronunciations!
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There are THREE Special G verbs that break the
rules for conjugating the nous form -nager
-voyager -manger
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Each conjugated form of an ER verb in the present
tense has THREE meanings.
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TROIS Prononciations Three Pronunciations
Most conjugated forms of an ER verb sound the
same (even though their spellings are different),
so you only have to learn THREE pronunciations!
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TROIS Prononciations Three Pronunciations
danser Je danse Nous dansons
Tu danses Vous dansez Il/Elle
danse Ils/Elles dansent
Trois Pononciations! 1. dawnss
2. dawnss-ohn 3. dawnss-eh
How does it work?
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TROIS Prononciations
Three Pronunciations
When you take off the ending, or la terminaison
(er), you get the stem, called la racine.
The stem is pronounced just like it looks. Its
like saying the infinitive form without the ER
sound at the end Infinitive drop
ER Stem -étudier étudi -inviter
invit -habiter habit
And then
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TROIS Prononciations
Three Pronunciations
Add the ending! Let's say each one out loud.
Note that the first three have the same
pronunciation.
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Les verbes du G special Special G verbs
There are THREE Special G verbs that break the
rules for conjugating the nous form
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Les verbes du G special Special G verbs
These three special G verbs are
nager voyager manger
They are all three ER verbs with a G before the
er.
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Les verbes du G special Special G verbs
For these special G verbs, the Nous form is
different. What changes? Why? (think
pronunciation)?
Something about the spelling has changed
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Les verbes du G special Special G verbs
So what changes?
-Weve added an e between the g and ons
forms (je, tu, nous, vous, etc) consistently.
And if we didnt? -Wed have nagons nah
gohn voyagons voy a-gohn
mangon mah gohn
And the French would say
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Oh là là! Fermez les oreilles!!! mahn-gohn???
Zut! Cest un massacre de la langue française!
NON! NON! NON!!!
nah-gohn??? NON!!! Cest horrible! Quelle
horreur!!!! Et voy-a-gohn?!? Quelle mauvaise
prononciation!!!!
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Les verbes du G special Special G verbs
So in the interest of positive foreign
relations, lets remember
-The NOUS form is special for nager, voyager,
and manger
-In the NOUS form of these three verbs, we need
to insert and e after the g to make the
pronunciation sound nice
SPECIAL G needs an E to sound JOLI!
(pretty)?
3 pronunciations, 3 special G verbs, and now
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TROIS Sens Three Meanings
Each conjugated form of an ER verb in the present
tense has THREE meanings.
3
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TROIS Sens Three Meanings
For example, lets conjugate
voyager
Je voyage Nous voyageons Tu voyages Vous
voyagez Il/Elle voyage Ils/Elles voyagent
Je voyage has three meanings I travel, I am
traveling, I do travel
Ils/Elles voyagent has three meanings They
travel, they are traveling, and they do travel
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TROIS Sens Three Meanings
Need a few more examples?
We play We are playing We do play
Nous jouons
They borrow They are borrowing They do borrow
Elles empruntent
I win I am winning I do win
Je gagne
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Practiquons! (Let's practice!)?
Visit the following sites and try to activities
to test your newfound skills and knowledge
http//atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curri
c/HotPotatoes/index.htm (click on Français,
scroll down and select Present Tense, click on
Regular ER Verbs)? http//french.about.com/librar
y/weekly/aa101199t.htm http//www.quia.com/mc/6610
0.html (you may play several times)? http//www.la
its.utexas.edu/tex/gr/ver1.html (scroll down
towards the bottom, starting with fill in the
blanks)?
Be sure to record your scores on the activity
sheet!
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Les Questions Fréquentes Frequently Asked
Questions
Technical Questions Why is the e missing in
Je when I conjugate verbs like aimer, habiter,
écouter, inviter, etc.

If the stem begins with a vowel sound, you
eliminate the e in Je and put an apostrophe
in its place. For example Jhabite, Jaime,
Jinvite.