putting it together an er verb assembly kit putting it together an er verb assembly kit a...

Putting It TogetherAn ER verb assembly kit

Putting It TogetherAn ER verb assembly kit

A do-it-yourself program for constructing complete thoughts and actions using regular ER verbs

Setup

Getting Started

Projects

FAQ’s

Setup

The process of verb conjugation

Parts and accessories

La Conjugaison des VerbesVerb Conjugation

So what is conjugation? What does “conjugate” mean?

In grammatical terms, it’s…

Taking the infinitive form of the verb (such as: to have, to eat, to dance, to speak, etc) and changing it to agree with the subject of the verb (the person/object performing the action)

Lost? Don’t you worry. We conjugate verbs in English every day! How???


Watch carefully as our verb repair specialty crew conjugates an English verb in the present tense.

To have

I have We have

You have You (pl) have

He/She has They have


Don’t they do excellent work? Here are some other familiar projects:

to dance to eat

I dance We dance

You dance You (pl) dance

He/She dances They dance

I eat We eat

You eat You (pl) eat

He/She eats They eat

Is it making sense yet? We change “to dance” to “dance” or “dances” depending on who we’re talking about (I, You, They). The same goes for “to eat.” Try a few on your own:


Here are a few verbs to try. Remember to use the present tense!

to watch

I watch We watch

You watch You (pl) watch

He/She watches They watch

to work

I work We work

You work You (pl) work

He/She works They work

How did you do?

C’est facile, n’est-ce pas?

Now that you are experts, lets check out the nuts and bolts of conjugating French verbs.


Would you say…

I is? You be? He are?

She work?

They watches? I to be?

You to work?

Oops! Of course not! Conjugated verbs are not interchangeable! It sounds ridiculous! It’s the same way with the French language.

La Conjugaison des VerbesParts and Accessories

In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you will need to know the following 4 terms:

Stem-

Infinitive-

The verb by itself: téléphoner, parler, surfer, regarderWhat others can you name?

The verb without the er: téléphon, parl, surf, regard

Subject-The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, la télé)

travailler

envoyer étudier écouter chanter

Ending-


And most importantly:

The combination of letters that we put in place of the “er” that we dropped earlier. Each pronoun has it’s own ending to be used.

Below is a chart that gives these endings

-ER Endings

Jee [—] Nou

sons

[ohn]

Tu es [—] Vous

ez [ay]

Il/ Elle

e [—]Ils/

Ellesent [—]


Subject Infinitive Stem Ending

The worker: The drill packaging:

The drill: (packaging removed)

The drill bits:

Or think of it this way:

surfer, regarder, chanter, parler

er

Je, Tu, Nous, la fille, Ils

surf, regard, chant, parl

e, es, e, ons, ez, ent

The worker chooses the bit for each drill!!!


Ok, here’s the drill : Try to conjugate these French verbs by following the 4 simple steps:

1. Take note of the worker2. Choose your drill package3. Remove ALL er packaging from the drill

(how else are you going to use it?)4. Select the correct bit for the worker given *Notice, there are 6 workers for each verb!*

Je

Tu

Il/Elle

parler

Nous

Vous

Ils/Elles

Je

TuIl/Elle

parler

Nous

Vous

Ils/Elles

Je

Tu

Il/Elle

chanter

Nous

Vous

Ils/Elles

Je

Tu

Il/Elle

surfer

Nous

Vous

Ils/Elles

Je

Tu

Il/Elle

écouter

Nous

Vous

Ils/Elles


Go to the next page to see how you did!

Je parle

Tu parles

Il/Elle parle

parler

Nous parlons

Vous parlez

Ils/Elles parlent

Je chante

Tu chantes

Il/Elle chante

chanter

Nous chantonsVous chantez

Ils/Elles chantent

Je surfe

Tu surfes

Il/Elle surfe

surfer

Nous surfons

Vous surfez

Ils/Elles surfent

J’écoute

Tu écoutes

Il/Elle écoute

écouter

Nous écoutons

Vous écoutez

Ils/Elles écoutent


How did you do? Ready for a new twist?

Getting Started

Parts Review

The Rule of THREE

Parts ReviewSurveying the Foundation

You should know the following terms before proceeding:

-conjugate

-subject

-infinitive

-stem

-ending

Remember, when putting something together, it’s always better to have a strong foundation than a weak one. You want what you are making to last, right? Make sure your foundation is strong before you begin further building.

La Règle de TROISThe Rule of THREE

1

2

3

Most conjugated forms of an ER verb sound the same (even though their spellings are different), so you only have to learn THREE pronunciations!

There are THREE “Special G” verbs that break the rules for conjugating the nous form:

-nager -voyager -manger

Each conjugated form of an ER verb in the present tense has THREE meanings.

1Most conjugated forms of an ER verb sound the same (even though their spellings are different), so you only have to learn THREE pronunciations!

TROIS PrononciationsThree Pronunciations


For example, let’s conjugate:

Say them to yourself:

danse = [dahnss]

danses = [dahnss]

danse = [dahnss]

dansons = [dahnss-ohn]

dansez = [dahnss-ay]

dansent = [dahnss]

danser

Nous dansons

Tu danses

Il/Elle danse

Je danse

Vous dansez

Ils/Elles dansent

danser

Je danse Nous dansons

Tu danses Vous dansez

Il/Elle danse Ils/Elles dansent


Trois Pononciations!

1. [dahnss] 2. [dahnss-ohn] 3. [danss-ay]

How does it work?


When you take off the packaging (er), you get the stem (the drill).

The stem is pronounced just like it looks. It’s like saying the infinitive form without the ER sound at the end:

Infinitive drop ER = Stem

-étudier [ay] = étudi [ay-too-dee]

-chanter [ay] = chant [shant]

-écouter [ay] = écout [ay-coot]

And then…


Add the bit! As a quick reminder, here are the pronunciations of each bit (ending)

Do you see the 4 bits that have the same pronunciation?

-ER Endings

Je e [—] Nous ons [ohn]

Tu es [—] Vous ez [ay]

Il/ Elle e [—] Ils/Elles ent [—]


Let’s try it with dîner:

Subject(worker)

+Stem(drill)

+Ending

(bit)Result

Je + dîn [deen] + e [-] dîne [deen]

Tu + dîn [deen] + es [-] dînes [deen]

Il/Elle + dîn [deen] + e [-] dîne [deen]

Nous + dîn [deen] +ons[ohn

]dînons [deen-ohn]

Vous + dîn [deen] + ez[eh] dînez [deen-ay]

Ils/Elles + dîn [deen] + ent [-] dînent [deen]


Subject(worker)

+Stem(drill)

+Ending

(bit)Result

Je + dîn [deen] + e [-] dîne [deen]

Tu + dîn [deen] + es [-] dînes [deen]

Il/Elle + dîn [deen] + e [-] dîne [deen]

Nous + dîn [deen] +ons[ohn

]dînons [deen-ohn]

Vous + dîn [deen] + ez[eh] dînez [deen-ay]

Ils/Elles + dîn [deen] + ent [-] dînent [deen]

Do you see the 4 bits that have the same pronunciation?

Les exemples au Web

More examples: (click on link to hear authentic pronunciation)

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/ver1.html

2There are THREE “Special G” verbs that break the rules for conjugating the nous form:

Les verbes du “G” specialSpecial G verbs

These three “special G” verbs are:


nager

voyager

manger

They are all three ER verbs with a “G” before the –er.


voyager

Je voyageNous voyageons

Tu voyagesVous voyagez

Il/Elle voyage

Ils/Elles voyagent

nager

Je nageNous nageons

Tu nages Vous nagez

Il/Elle nageIls/Elles nagent

manger

Je mange Nous mangeons

Tu manges Vous mangez

Il/Elle mange Ils/Elles mangent

For these “special G” verbs, the “Nous” form is different. What changes?

Why? (think pronunciation)

Something about the spelling has changed…


-We’ve added an “e” between the “g” and “ons”

-Why?

-So we can keep the [zsh] sound in all the verb forms (je, tu, nous, vous, etc) consistently.

And if we didn’t?

-We’d have: nagons [nah – gohn]

voyagons [voy –a-gohn]

mangon [mah –gohn]

And the French

would say…

So what changes?

[nah-gohn]??? NON!!! C’est horrible! Quelle horreur!!!! Et [voy-a-gohn]?!? Quelle mauvaise prononciation!!!!

Oh là là! Fermez les oreilles!!! [mahn-gohn]??? Zut! C’est un massacre de la langue française! NON! NON! NON!!!


So… in the interest of positive foreign relations, let’s remember:

-The “NOUS” form is special for nager, voyager, and manger

-In the “NOUS” form of these three verbs, we need to insert and “e” after the “g” to make the pronunciation sound nice

SPECIAL “G” needs an “E” to sound “JOLI!” (pretty)

3 pronunciations, 3 special “G” verbs, and now…

TROIS SensThree Meanings

3Each conjugated form of an ER verb in the present tense has THREE meanings.


For example, let’s conjugate:

voyager

Je voyage Nous voyageons

Tu voyages Vous voyagez

Il/Elle voyage Ils/Elles voyagent

“Je voyage” has three meanings: I travel, I am traveling, I do travel

“Ils/Elles voyagent” has three meanings: They travel, they are traveling, and they do travel


Need a few more examples?

Nous discoutons

We chat

We are chatting

We do chat Elles écoutent

They listen

They are listening

They do listen Je danse

I dance

I am dancing

I do dance

La Règle de TROISThe Rule of THREE

Et

VOILÀ!

Conjugate while remembering these three rules and you’ll create a masterpiece every time!

And speaking of masterpieces… lets put it all together and try your handiwork…

Projects

Les ProjetsProjects

Visit the following sites and try to activities to test your newfound skills and knowledge:

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/HotPotatoes/index.htm (click on “Français, scroll down and select Present Tense, click on Regular –ER Verbs)

http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa101199t.htm

http://www.quia.com/mc/66100.html (you may play several times)

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/ver1.html (scroll down towards the bottom, starting with “fill in the blanks”)

Be sure to record your scores on the activity sheet!

FAQ’s

Les Questions FréquentesFrequently Asked Questions

Technical Questions:

Instead of dropping the “er” when conjugating a verb, can’t I just drop the “r”?

What you’re really asking:

Can’t I leave some of the packaging and still use the drill without any problems?

Answer:

NO! It may seem like it doesn’t make a difference, but it is a bad habit to start! Some -er verbs have fancier endings and cannot be conjugated by just dropping the “r”. Conjugation will not turn out properly… nor will your project if you leave the packaging on the drill!



Why is the “e” missing in “Je” when I conjugate verbs like “aimer, habiter, écouter, inviter, etc.”


Is the “Je” worker picky about certain drills?

Answer:

Yes, the “Je” worker is picky. If the drill it wants to use begins with the vowels “a,e, or i” or a vowel sound, it likes to eliminate the “e” in “Je” and put an apostrophe in it’s place. For example: J’habite, J’aime, J’invite.



Will “je suis parle” or “je suis parler” work instead of saying “je parle” to mean “I am speaking”?


Can’t a worker use two drills at the same time with or without the correct bit?

Answer:

NO! It’s dangerous and makes no sense! “Je parle” already means “I am speaking.” “Je suis parle,”translates to “I am am speaking.” “Je suis parler,” means “I am to speak.” Do not put any form of être (suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont) in front of any verb!!! (you’d be using two drills… être and another verb)

putting it together an er verb assembly kit putting it together an er verb assembly kit a...

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