French Notes

ouvrir – to open
couvrir – to cover
découvrir – to discover
souffrir – to suffer
offrir – to offer

These verbs all are IR verbs that follow the ER verb pattern when conjugated in the present tense. In other tenses, these verbs are irregular, but all follow the same pattern.
Ouvrir

Couvrir

Offrir

mettre – to put, to put on

Je mets mon sac à dos sur la table.  I’m putting my backpack on the table.
Georges met le lait dans le frigo. Georges is putting the milk in the fridge.
Nous mettons nos anoraks parce qu’il fait froid. We are putting on our parkas because it’s cold.
Tu dois mettre tes chaussures si tu veux aller dehors. You have to put on your shoes if you want to go outside.

verbs like mettre

promettre – to promise
permettre – to permit, to allow
soumettre – to submit
remettre -to put back
se mettre à – to start to (do something)
omettre – to omit
commettre – to commit

sortir- to go out
partir – to leave
dormir – to sleep
s’endormir – to fall asleep
servir – to serve
mentir – to lie
se sentir – to feel
sentir – to smell

Sortir – to go out, or to get something out

 We are going out at 9 a.m. – Nous sortons à 9h.
I’m going out with Sophie and George – Je sors avec Sophie et George.
She’s getting her suitcase from the overhead compartment – Elle sort sa valise du compartiment.

Partir – to leave

They are leaving today. Ils partent aujourd’hui.
3,2,1, Go! Trois, deux, un, Partez!

Servir – to serve

The waiter is serving the meal. Le serveur sert le repas.

Dormir – to sleep

These verbs are regular ‘er’ verbs, except that for the je, tu, il, and ils forms in present tense, one changes the ‘y’ to an ‘i’.

payer – to pay (for)
envoyer – to send
nettoyer – to clean
essayer (de) – to try (to)
essuyer – to wipe
balayer – to sweep
renvoyer – to send back, to fire
appuyer – to push
employer – to use, to employ
ennuyer – to annoy, to bore
aboyer – to bark
se noyer – to drown

To conjugate these verbs;
a. drop the er
b. add the ending to match the subject
c. for the je, tu, il, and ils forms, change the ‘y’ to ‘i’

payer

essuyer

Je paie à la caisse. I’m paying at the cashier
Sophie essuie le comptoir – Sophie’s wiping the counter
Nous nettoyons notre chambre – We’re cleaning our room

prendre – to take
comprendre – to understand
surprendre – to surprise
apprendre (à) – to learn (to)

Prendre is an irregular verb. The other verbs in this category follow the same pattern as prendre.

1. Prendre literally means ‘to take’. You can ‘prendre’ a train or a bus, you can ‘prendre’ a bath or a shower, and in many cases it translates directly
a. One doesn’t prendre people, one uses mener, amener, or emmener when discussing transporting people.

2. the verb prendre has a number of additional meanings.

a. Used with food of beverages, prendre means ‘to eat’ or ‘to drink’.
Au restaurant Marie prend toujours du poulet.
Au café, mes amis prennent toujours du thé.

b. Prendre le petit déjeuner means “to eat breakfast”. BUT one does not use prendre with other meals in French.
to eat lunch – déjeuner
to eat dinner – dîner
Je prends mon petit déjeuner à la maison, mais je déjeune toujours à un restaurant.

c. Prendre les billets means “to buy tickets”
Je prends mon billet au guichet.

d. Other prendre idioms are :
prendre un billet – to buy a ticket
prendre un chemin -to take a road
prendre une decision – to make a decision
prendre un parti – to make a decision
prendre son temps – to take one’s time
prendre au sérieux – to take seriously
prendre rendez-vous avec – to arrange a meeting with
s’y prenre – to go about something
prendre un bain / une douche – to take a bath / shower

Apprendre – to learn
J’apprends le français. I am learning French.
BUT
when you’re learning TO do something, you apprend à infinitive.
j’apprends à nager. I’m learning to swim.
Nous apprenons à faire de la planche à voile. We’re learning to windsurf
Fred et Georges apprennent à jouer du piano. Fred and George are learning to play the piano.

* Last little thing* Quelle surprise! = what a surprise! Good expression to know.