PRESENT TENSE VERBS + INFINITIVES

An infinitive is a verb (or in other words a ‘doing word’) such as ‘to play’, to go… which has not been changed in
any way. It’s how you’ll find it in a dictionary.

In English, you can spot an infinitive by the fact it has the word ‘to’ in front. So, to play is an infinitive and I play is
not.

In French, they do not have the word ‘to’, they have an ending instead and it’s virtually always : ER for example :
jouer, manger, regarder, nager… Occasionally it’s IR, eg finir, venir, avoir and on a very few occasions, it’s RE, eg être
(to be), vendre (to sell), rendre (to give back, hand in), prendre (to take)

As we have seen already, in French you knock off the endings (er, ir or re) and then add a series of other endings
to produce the present tense. We sometimes do the same in English,

eg to go  he goes, to play  I played, to walk  I’m walking

eg manger je mange, écouter  tu écoutes, aller  nous allons

It’s also quite common in English, to change the look of the verb: to see  I saw, to run  I ran and on occasions,
the word changes completely : to have to  I must, to go  I went, to be able to  I can

Sometimes this happens in French but it is not half as common as it is in English : here are 3 of the most
common in French : aller, avoir & être & to get top marks, you need to learn them by heart :

ALLER AVOIR ÊTRE

je vais j’ai je suis

tu vas as es

il/elle/on va a est

nous allons avons sommes

vous allez avez êtes

iles/elles vont ont sont

If you want to use a second verb in your sentence, such as : I like to ski, I’m going to play, I can play… In French,
it is always followed by an infinitive (in other words, a verb ending in ER, or IR or possibly RE). If you notice in
the English examples above, we don’t always use the infinitive : I can play (we have dropped the ‘to’).
Sometimes in English, we use ING at the end of a verb instead of using the infinitive ‘to’ eg I like to play or I like
playing – in French there is no alternative, you always use the infinitive ! j’aime jouer

Je peux jouer, j’aime écouter, je veux aller, j’adore regarder, je vais avoir, je voudrais être

Here are also some common verbs in the present you will need to know & learn to get A/A* at GCSE
je veux – I want, je dois – I have to/must, j’ai besoin de – I need, je sais – I know (how to) je connais – I
know (person/language), il y a – there is/are, je sors – I go out, je pars – I leave

PRACTICE

1. Je voudrais (to go) _____________ en Egypte cet été

2. Je sais (speak)________________ français et allemand

3. J’ai besoin de (to work) ________________ pour mes examens cette année

4. Je vais (to stay)_________________ chez moi ce weekend et (to play) ___________ au foot

5. J’aime (to download)___________________ de la musique son mon portable

6. Je veux (to buy) m’________________ un nouvel ordinateur

7. J’adore (to get up) ___________________ tard le matin

8. Je dois (to do) _________________ mes devoirs avant de (watching)____________ la télé

9. J’aimerais (to be able to)___________________ (to go) ______________ de l’alpinisme

10. On va (to visit)_________________ mes grands-parents pour (to celebrate) ___________ Noël

Traduisez en français
1. I have to study math at school_________________________________________________

2. I want to go to Australia ______________________________________________________

3. We can go out tonight ________________________________________________________

4. I like surfing the net __________________________________________________________

5. I’d like to watch the rugby on TV_________________________________________________

6. I’m going to meet my friends in town _____________________________________________

Tes examples en anglais et en français

1. _______________________________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________________________
 4. _______________________________________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________________________________

My notes :