Verbs

How the French present tense works in comparison with the English.

The four uses of pronominal verbs: reflexive, reciprocal, passive, and “subjective” or idiomatic.

Formation & Uses of the Conditional Tenses (A Future-in-the-Past), Conditional Sentences, Polite Expressions, To Report What Somebody Else Has Said).

Examples of the three basic types of conditional sentences: present – future, imperfect – present conditional, pluperfect – past conditional.

Verbs conjugated like craindre, éteindre, poindre. Forms, origins, meanings, and a host of other useful bits of information.

Irregular verbs grouped together according to 1) similarity of forms, 2) derivations.

Formation of the simple past: regular & irregular verbs.

Prepositions of time such as depuis, il y a, and pendant, the tenses they are used with, and what they mean.

On the great divide between the perfective (passé composé, passé simple) and the imperfective (imparfait) in French.

A table showing what a French past tense can be in English and what an English past tense can be in French.

The passé composé formed with avoir, with être; when the past participle agrees with…something…

Forms of the Imperative; Use with pronoun objects; the Third-Person Imperative; and Yet Other Matters Imperative.

The French way getting somebody else to do something is with the faire causatif. It performs two functions for the price of one: having someone do something and having something done.

Verbs that form their compound tenses with étre are said to belong to the Maison d’Être, an absolutely hilarious jeu de mots. Herein the true raison d’être of the Maison d’Être is clearly presented.

The wherefrom, whereto, and wherewith of regular French -re verbs, which could also be called -dre verbs, since they all have a base ending in -d. 1) Verbs of this kind everyone needs to know. 2) Verbs of this kind to add elegance to your prose. 3) Verbs similarly conjugated.

A grammatical and linguistic analysis of the poem “Tristesse” by Alfred de Musset, with special emphasis on the use of the passé composé, and an English translation.

The uses of the -ant form of the verb in French, as present participle and in the gérondif construction.

Hints for making sense (by showing a few groupings) of how dependent infinitives connect to verbs (verbs that have an infinitive follow directly, those that use the preposition â, and those that use the preposition de).

The French verb savoir as a semi-auxiliary verb and as a verb in its own right; its uses and meanings in passé composé and in imparfait are contrasted.

The verb devoir in all its many forms and meanings: as a verb in its own right, but especially as a semi-auxiliary, in which capacity it performs an astonishing number of functions.