Grammaire 1: verbes réguliers en -RE et METTRE
cgloor
On étudie !
You have already learned regular -er and -ir verbs. Now we will look at a third (and final) group: regular -re verbs. Here is the example of attendre:
Conjugaison du verbe attendre (to wait [for], to expect)
| Singulier | Pluriel |
|---|---|
| j’attends | nous attendons |
| tu attends | vous attendez |
| il, elle, on attend | ils, elles attendent |
The -d at the end of the stem attend- is only pronounced in the plural forms (nous, vous, ils, elles). Notice also that attendre is a faux ami of the English word to attend, as it translates as to wait (for).
To conjugate any regular -re verbs, you need to identify the stem (le radical) by removing -re from the infinitive form (attendre→attend) and remember the six present tense endings specific to -re verbs: -s,-s,-Ø,-ons,-ez,-ent
Other common regular -re verbs are:
| Français | Anglais | Exemples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| entendre | to hear | Est-ce que tu entends la musique ? | Do you hear the music? |
| descendre | to descend, go down, get out of a vehicle | Il descend de l’autobus. | He gets out of the bus. |
| perdre | to lose, waste | Nous perdons souvent les clés. | We often lose our keys. |
| rendre | to give back | Je rends les livres à la bibliothèque. | I give back the books at the library. |
| répondre | to respond | Elle répond à la question. | She answers the question |
| tondre | to mow | Marc tond le gazon. | Marc mows the grass. |
| vendre | to sell | Ils vendent des tacos au marché. | They see tacos at the market. |
| mordre | to bite | Les profs ne mordent personne. Les chiens oui. | Profs don’t bite anyone. Dogs do. |
The verb mettre (to put [on]) is an irregular -re verb that conjugates like attendre except that the t before the -re is dropped in the singular forms:
Conjugaison du verbe mettre (to put [on])
| Singulier | Pluriel |
|---|---|
| je mets | nous mettons |
| tu mets | vous mettez |
| il, elle, on met | ils, elles mettent |
Other verbs that end with -mettre are conjugated in the same ways. These include: permettre (to permit), promettre (to promise), soumettre (to submit) and remettre (to put back, turn in).
