1001 French Verbs

How to Use 1001 French Verbs

Pronunciation

Select any French expression anywhere on the website to hear it spoken. You will need to have a French voice installed in your web browser for this to work.

Mood and Tense

Mood and tense are specified separately using the Mood and Tense buttons such as Indicatif and Présent. You can, for example, switch between the passé composé, conditionnel passé, impératif passé, and passé du subjonctif by keeping the tense the same (the passé) and just changing the mood. In addition to selecting with a mouse or touchscreen, the buttons for mood and tense can also be navigated using the left/right arrow keys, which will immediately load the new selection.

Verb Conjugations

The verb conjugation table shows the conjugation for the chosen mood and tense. All verbs conjugations are given with full English translations.

• Conjugations are given with the stem shown in blue and the ending shown in red.
• Irregular stems and/or endings are shown by underlining.
• The way in which an irregular stem differs from the standard form is shown by highlighting any changed or added letters in bold if possible.

The rows in the verb conjugation table can also be navigated using the up/down arrow keys, then using the Enter key to pronounce the selected conjugation.

How is "Irregularity" Defined?

A conjugation stem or ending is considered as irregular if it does not follow the standard pattern for a verb of its group. For example, the verb rompre might be expected to follow the standard pattern for verbs ending in -re in the present tense, but the third person singular form has a t added to the verb stem romp i.e. il/elle rompt. The underlining is intended to draw attention to the way in which the conjugation differs from the standard pattern.

Note that since nearly all verbs ending in -oir use the endings -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent in the present tense (including such common irregular verbs as voir, devoir, and savoir), only endings which differ from this pattern are highlighted.

Subject Gender

Subject gender can be selected for all subjects using the M (masculine) and F (feminine) buttons below the verb conjugation table. In most cases this will only change the third person subject(s) (il ↔ elle and ils ↔ elles) and the conjugation will be the same. However, for compound tenses which conjugate with être instead of avoir, an 'e' is added to the verb conjugation ending when the subject is feminine.

Show/Practice

In 1001 French verbs, you can practice any verb conjugation in any order that you like.

• Test yourself using the Practice button below the verb conjugations. The verb conjugations will then be replaced by text input fields where you can enter your answers.
• A set of accented French characters pops up on entering each input field to make it easier to enter these characters.
• Feedback is given immediately on leaving the input field with either a ✓ or ✕ and by changing the outline color of the field.
• The input fields can also be navigated with the keyboard using the arrow keys and the Enter key for inputting an answer.

Related Verbs

If a verb is part of a group that conjugates similarly, the related verbs are shown under the verbs table following "Conjugates like: ". Related verbs can be loaded by selecting them.

Expressions

Expressions are given with their meaning and are color-coded by register. Non-literal expressions are also characterized as:

Idiom

A fixed phrase with a meaning that cannot be understood from a literal translation of the words. Idioms need to be memorized exactly as complete expressions.

Figurative

An expression that is used in a symbolic or metaphorical rather than a literal sense. Figurative expressions often use imagery or comparisons whose meaning can usually be inferred from the context.

Proverb

A short saying that expresses a life lesson or truth passed down through generations. Proverbs are often culturally specific, although the same proverb may exist in different languages.

Filtering Verbs

The verbs shown in the table of verbs can be filtered by choosing the verb type and/or the CEFR level (equivalent to the DELF level).

The buttons for filtering verbs can also be navigated using the left/right arrow keys and the Enter key to turn a filter on or off.

Filtering Irregular Verbs

French verbs are considered irregular if one or more of their conjugations do not follow the standard pattern for their group. In 1001 French Verbs, verbs are more explicitly categorized by irregularity in each mood and tense. For example, if you want to see just verbs that have irregular future stems, choose the Futur tense, then select irregular from the options above the verbs table.

Verbs Table

The verbs table shows all available verbs, filtered by group and/or CEFR level if these have been selected. Verbs can be loaded by selecting them in the table. The verb table can also be navigated using the up/down arrow keys, which will immediately load the selected verb.

Synonyms

Synonyms for each verb can be displayed by selecting the verb translation.

• A dialog box will pop up showing expressions which use the verb.
• Select an expression to see a list of synonyms ordered by the verb frequency.
• Select a synonym to load the verb that the synonym is based on.
• Synonyms can also be navigated using the up/down arrow keys, using the Enter key to load the synonym verb.

Register

Register indicates the degree of formality of a given verb or expression. The register is identified by color-coding. Six registers are included here, although the number varies depending on which source you consult.

Some verbs or expressions span multiple registers depending on context. In these cases, the color-coding spans the different registers to match this.