French & German Comparative Tutorial III

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Common Verbs

Regular Verbs: Present and Past Tense

In French, there are three types of verbs, depending on their endings: -er, -ir and -re. All verbs in German end in -en or -n. To conjugate verbs in the present tense, remove the endings and add the following new endings. The present tense in French and German can translate as either the simple present, the present continuous, or the emphatic present, i.e. I run, I am running, I do run.

Present	French				German
	-er	-ir	-re		-en / -n
je / j'	-e	-is	-s	ich	-e
tu	-es	-is	-s	du	-st
il/elle	-e	-it	-	er/sie/es	-t
nous	-ons	-issons	-ons	wir	-en
vous	-ez	-issez	-ez	ihr	-t
ils/elles	-ent	-issent	-ent	sie/Sie	-en

For French verbs that begin with a vowel, such as apprendre, je becomes j' so that subject and verb can be connected as one word (to faciliate pronunciation): j'apprends. It is also common for tu to become t' in informal speech, but not in formal writing: t'apprends.

For the past (imperfect) tense, all regular French verbs use the same endings. All regular German verbs use the same endings as well. This past tense translates as either the simple past, the past continuous, or used to + infinitive, i.e. I ran, I was running, I used to run. (There is another past tense in French, called the passé simple - simple past, that is rarely used in speech, but still commonly used in literature. It will appear later.)

Past	French		German
je / j'	-ais	ich	-te
tu	-ais	du	-test
il/elle	-ait	er/sie/es	-te
nous	-ions	wir	-ten
vous	-iez	ihr	-tet
ils/elles	-aient	sie/Sie	-ten

Spelling Changes in the Present Tense

There are several spelling changes in conjugated verbs in the present tense, in both French and German. Usually these changes are made to correlate with the pronunciation of the verb.

French: Many verbs that end in -ir are conjugated with a different set of endings than those above, while some other -ir verbs are conjugated as if they were -er verbs. Verb stems that end in -c must use a cedilla (ç) under the c to make it soft in the nous form. Verb stems ending in -ge lose the final e before the endings in the nous and vous forms. Some verbs add an accent grave to an e (è) or change an accent aigu to an accent grave before the ending; verbs ending in -yer change the y to i; and some verbs double their consonant in all forms but nous and vous.

	partir	offrir	commencer	manger	espérer	payer	appeler
je / j'	pars	offre	commence	mange	espère	paie	appelle
tu	pars	offres	commences	manges	espères	paies	appelles
il/elle	part	offre	commence	mange	espère	paie	appelle
nous	partons	offrons	commençons	mangions	espérons	payons	appelons
vous	partez	offrez	commencez	mangiez	espérez	payez	appelez
ils/elles	partent	offrent	commencent	mangent	espèrent	paient	appellent

German: For the du and er/sie/es forms only, some verbs change their stem vowel: a to ä, au to äu, e to ie, e to i. Verb stems ending in -d or -t add an extra -e before the regular endings for the du, er/sie/es and ihr forms. Verb stems ending in s, z, or ß only add -t for the du form. Verbs that end in -n instead of -en only add -n for the wir and sie/Sie forms. Verbs that end in -eln or -ern only -n for the wir and sie/Sie forms and they can drop the e before -ln or -rn in the ich form.

	fahren	laufen	sehen	geben	arbeiten	tanzen	tun	sammeln
ich	fahre	laufe	sehe	gebe	arbeite	tanze	tue	sammle
du	fährst	läufst	siehst	gibst	arbeitest	tanzt	tust	sammelst
er/sie/es	fährt	läuft	sieht	gibt	arbeitet	tanzt	tut	sammelt
wir	fahren	laufen	sehen	geben	arbeiten	tanzen	tun	sammeln
ihr	fahrt	lauft	seht	gebt	arbeitet	tanzt	tut	sammelt
sie/Sie	fahren	laufen	sehen	geben	arbeiten	tanzen	tun	sammeln

Irregular Verb Stems in the Past Tense

French: Only one French verb is irregular in the past (imperfect) tense: être. Its stem becomes ét- for the past tense, but it still uses the regular past tense endings. In addition, some of the spelling changes in the present tense also occur in the past tense (for verb stems ending in -c and -g).

German: There are several irregular past stems in German. Similar to the irregular verbs in English, some of these stems cannot be predicted and must be memorized. These irregular verb stems also use slightly different endings than the regular verbs.

Irregular Endings in Past Tense

Irregular Stems in the Past Tense

Haben, werden, wissen, and a group of verbs called the "mixed verbs" all have irregular stems in the past tense, but they still use the regular endings!

Some of the modal verbs in German follow the rules for regular stem + regular ending, while others use an irregular stem + regular ending.

Pronominal / Reflexive Verbs

Pronominal verbs are also called reflexive verbs, and they require an extra pronoun in the conjugations. These verbs reflect actions that are done to the subject, so many of them involve the body. Other verbs are considered pronominal simply for grammatical reasons.

On / Man

To express an unspecific agent (such as one, you, they, or people in general in English), use on in French and man in German as the subject pronoun. These subjects can also be used as a way to avoid the passive mood.

Plaire / Gefallen

Both of these verbs mean to like (literally: to be pleasing to), but the word order is the opposite of English.

Separable & Inseparable Prefixes in German

A lot of German verbs include prefixes, which may or may not separate from the base infinitive when conjugated.

Imperative / Commands

Forming commands is quite easy if you remember the present tense conjugations of verbs.

Subordinating Conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction that begins a dependent clause depends on the rest of the sentence to make sense. For example, "because I was sick" does not make sense on its own and it requires another clause (the independent clause): I went home because I was sick. Notice that "I went home" can exist on its own, which is why it is called independent. In French and German, just as in English, either the independent or dependent clause can begin the sentence; however, the word order must change in German.

For sentences of type 1) independent clause, + subordinating conjunction + dependent clause: The conjugated verb in the dependent clause goes to the very end - even after the infinitive.
For sentences of type 2) subordinating conjunction + dependent clause, + independent clause: The conjugated verb is first in the independent clause, followed by the subject.

1. Sie geht in die Stadt, weil sie ein Geschenk kaufen will. She's going into the city because she wants to buy a present.
2. Weil sie ein Geschenk kaufen will, geht sie in die Stadt. Because she wants to buy a present, she's going into the city.

Verbs with separable prefixes reattach the prefix when they are in dependent clauses:

Er kommt früh nach Hause zurück. He'll come back home early. [independent clause]
Ich denke, dass er früh nach Hause zurückkommt. I think that he'll come back home early. [dependent clause]

Verbs: Present Perfect / Past Perfect Tenses

Separable & Inseparable Prefixes

Verbs of Senses

House & Furniture

Buildings & Materials

Y/ En & Da- / Wo-

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