French Verb Conjugation Essentials: Advanced Concepts [+ Practice]

French Advanced verb conjugation concepts

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When children first start forming sentences, they may sound like: "I go play now."

When we're learning a new language, that's also how we sound at first! But as we learn grammar and verb conjugation rules, our speech matures and becomes more correct. We understand that "I'm going to go play now." is the correct version of "I go play now."

As your French skills progress, there are five advanced concepts in French verb conjugation you'll need to learn. Read on to learn what they are, and why they are so crucial to accuracy and fluency.

What is Verb Conjugation?

Verb conjugation is how you change a verb so that it appropriately suits a sentence.

Some of the earliest conjugation rules we learn are how to change verbs for the past, present, and future tense. For example, in English, the word "go" becomes "went" in the past and "will go" in the future. This is just the tip of the iceberg, though.

Five Advanced Verb Conjugation Concepts in French

Once you've passed those beginner verb conjugation rules, you'll run into five advanced concepts:

  1. Tense

  2. Mood

  3. Transitivity

  4. Voice

  5. Aspect

These five concepts aren't optional additions for advanced speakers. Every verb, even in the simplest sentence, is affected by these five factors. Learn what they mean and how to learn them properly below.

1. Verb Tense

Verb tense goes beyond past, present, and future. In fact, there are more than 20 different tenses in French! For example, consider the following sentences:

They're all in the past, but use different verb tenses to convey more detail. To learn more about verb tenses and how they affect conjugation, take a look at our French verb tense guide with exercises for you to practise!

2. Verb Mood

Verb mood describes the attitude with which a verb is used in a sentence. Specifically, whether you're speaking in:

  • Statements (indicative mood)

  • Conditional statements (conditional mood)

  • Hypotheticals (subjunctive mood)

  • Instructions (imperative mood)

Each of these verb moods dictates how we conjugate the verb. To learn the rules, take a look at our French verb mood guide with exercises.

3. Verb Transitivity

Verb transitivity describes whether a verb does or does not require an object to make sense.

Usually, a verb fits into one of two categories:

  1. Transitive (requires an object)

  2. Intransitive (doesn't require an object)

However, some verbs can work as both. These are ditransitive verbs. In these cases, you'll need to learn both the transitive and intransitive conjugation rules for the verb. To get started, check out our French verb transitivity guide with exercises.

4. Verb Voice

Verb voice expresses whether the subject of a sentence performs the verb or undergoes the verb. For example, the following statements express the same sentiment in different voices:

While they convey the same meaning, the verb is conjugated differently in each voice. Thankfully, there are only three French verb voices you need to learn:

  1. Active voice

  2. Passive voice

  3. Pronominal voice

Use our French verb voice guide with exercises to understand how to use each voice and its verb conjugation rules.

5. Verb Aspect

Verb aspect lets you express how a verb happens relative to the progression of time. It's different from tense, which dictates past, present, and future. Rather, it describes whether an action is:

  • Habitual

  • Complete

  • Incomplete

  • Ongoing

Depending on which of these four aspects a verb falls under, it needs to be conjugated differently. Get practising with our French verb aspect guide with exercises!

Start Learning Advanced French Verb Conjugation Today!

When you know how to conjugate verbs using these five concepts, your French jumps from intermediate to advanced. Even if you're already a confident speaker, learning their conjugation rules is the key to sounding like a native.

Start learning today with our French verb conjugation exercises, and track your progress with our interactive kwizzes. Ready to take your skills to the next level? Create your free Kwiziq account now and unlock personalised learning tools designed to help you succeed.

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