Doing and changing verbs in French

Level A1

Doing and changing verbs in French

French verbs change with the subject, and French questions use forms such as “Est-ce que” or question intonation instead of English “do.” “Try” before another action uses essayer de plus an infinitive: “J’essaie de parler français.” Use tu for informal address and vous for formal address or when speaking to more than one person. The table shows present forms of apprendre and devenir.

Verbs for actions and change

Starting activities, finishing tasks, helping, and learning

Use commencer for starting an activity and finir for finishing one. The verb form agrees with the subject: “Nous commençons à neuf heures” and “tu commences les cours.” French questions can use est-ce que, as in “Quand est-ce que tu finis tes devoirs ?” or “Qui est-ce que vous aidez au travail ?” Tu is informal; vous is used for formal address and for addressing more than one person. A question can also use question intonation, as in “À quelle heure tu commences les cours ?” Aider takes the person helped directly, while apprendre names what is learned: “Elle apprend des mots nouveaux à la maison.”

sujet commence une activité.

Trying to do something

For trying to do another action, use essayer de followed by an infinitive. De becomes d’ before a vowel sound: “J’essaie de parler français” and “Il essaie d’aider sa sœur.” The verb essayer changes with the subject, while the following action stays in the infinitive.

sujet essaie de verbe à l’infinitif.

Deciding what to do

Use décider followed by a question word and an infinitive to say what someone decides to do: “Nous décidons quoi manger.” The question word stays within the sentence rather than turning it into a direct question. In “Tu décides où aller,” tu is the informal form of “you”; use vous for formal address or for speaking to more than one person.

sujet décide mot interrogatif verbe à l’infinitif.

Talking about what happens

Use se passer for something that happens or takes place. The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject: “Qu’est-ce qui se passe ensuite ?” and “Ça se passe tous les jours.” The question asks “What happens next?”; the verb phrase remains se passer.

événement ou situation se passe indication de temps.

Talking about becoming something

Use devenir to describe a change of state or identity. The new state or identity follows the verb: “L’eau devient de la glace” and “Les enfants deviennent adultes.” The verb changes with the subject; the plural subject les enfants takes deviennent.

sujet devient nouvel état ou nouvelle identité.

Talking about growing and developing

Use grandir for a living thing that gets bigger or develops: “Le bébé grandit un peu chaque jour.” With a plural subject, the verb takes its plural form: “Ces plantes grandissent vite.”

être vivant grandit indication de rythme ou de quantité.

Present forms of apprendre and devenir

Subjectapprendredevenir
apprendredevenir
jeapprendsdeviens
tuapprendsdeviens
il/elleapprenddevient
nousapprenonsdevenons
vousapprenezdevenez
ilsapprennentdeviennent

Talking about work and helping

The dialogue uses vous for respectful, formal address and tu for informal address. With vous, the verb has the vous form, as in “Est-ce que vous finissez à cinq heures ?”; with tu, it has the tu form, as in “Tu aides ton frère à faire ses devoirs ?” Aider is followed directly by the person helped, and a pronoun object comes before the verb: “Je l’aide après l’école” and “Je les explique avec des images.”

Practise this lesson

Next lessons