There are three groups of verbs in French:The first group: The verbs end in “er” and follow the same conjugation except for “aller” which is a verb of the 3rd group.The second group: This group comprises all verbs that end in “ir” and which their present participle ends in “issant” For example: finir is a verb of the second group because it ends in “ir” and its present participle ends in “issant” : finissant The third group: comprises all the other verbs. We also call them “irregular verbs” because they don’t follow any specific conjugation. For example: prendre, tenir, voir, etc. |
The verbs of the second group end in “ ir.” For example: finir, investir, envahir, accueillir, saisir
They all conjugate the same way.
For example: finir (to finish),
| Je | finis |
| Tu | finis |
| Il /elle/ on | finit |
| Nous | finissons |
| Vous | finissez |
| Ils/elles | finissent |
Attention: Not all verbs ending in “ir” belong to the second group, only those with the present participle (le participe présent) ending in issant.
For example:
The participe présent of the verb applaudir is applaudissant
Let’s look at the following example:
En applaudissant, l’audience montre qu’elle est d’accord avec le discours du Président.
By clapping, the audience shows that it agrees with the President’s speech.
The participe présent of “applaudir” is “ applaudissant”. It ends in “issant” so “applaudir” belongs to the second group.
Note that verbs such as: partir, sortir, intervenir, tenir and many other verbs, though they end in “ir”, they don’t belong to the second group because their participe présent doesn’t end in “issant”.
Their participe présent is respectively:
| partir - partant sortir- sortant intervenir - intervenant tenir - tenant |
These verbs belong to the 3rd group, which we will study in the next grammar lesson.