Lesson 10 - Grammar 5 - Some verbs ending in -IR (like partir)
| Examples/ Exemples: |
|---|
| Par quel train partez-vous? |
| Le train part à l'heure. |
| Il fallait partir plus tôt. |
In this chapter, we are going to give the forms of the present tense of a few verbs ending in ir. Their peculiarity is modification of the stem from the singular to the plural.
Example : partir (to leave, to depart )
The plural stem is obtained by dropping the final ir.
plural stem = part-
The singular stem is like the plural stem minus the final consonant.
singular stem = par-
The present tense endings for these verbs are:
| Subject
Pronoun / Pronoms sujet |
Stem / Racine |
Ending / Terminaison |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Singular |
je | singular stem |
-s |
| tu | -s | ||
| il, elle, on | -t | ||
Plural |
nous | plural stem |
-ons |
| vous | -ez | ||
| ils, elles | -ent |
Following the same two-stem pattern are:
| French / Français | English / Anglais | Plural stem | Singlular stem |
|---|---|---|---|
| sortir | to go out | sort- | sor- |
| mentir | to lie | ment- | men- |
| sentir | to feel, to smell | sent- | sen- |
| dormir | to sleep | dorm- | dor- |
| servir | to serve | serv- | ser- |
The past participle for all these verbs is made with the ending ‘i’ added to the plural stem:
| Infinitive / Infinitif | Past participle / Participe passé |
|---|---|
| partir | parti |
| dormir | dormi |
| sortir | sorti |
| mentir | menti |
| sentir | senti |
| servir | servi |
Remember that sortir and partir are conjugated with the auxiliary être in the passé composé.
