Conjugating second group verbs in French: how to do it correctly?

Conjugation in French can be quite complex compared to English as there are different endings depending on the pronoun. Conjugating second group verbs in French, which mean verbs finishing by “IR”, will not be very challenging because the ending will be the same for all the verbs. The difference will be for each tense: present simple, past and future tenses. By the end of this article, you will be able to conjugate all verbs finishing by “IR” just by learning with one example!

If you have missed the article about “ER” verbs, take a look:

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How to conjugate first group verbs in French?

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The 50 “IR” verbs most frequent in French

In French conjugation, we split verbs in 3 groups.

• The first group contains verbs finishing by “ER” (except “aller”)
• The second group with verbs finishing by “IR”
• The third group for irregular verbs

In this article, I will concentrate on conjugating second group verbs in French because the endings are always the same so it is easy to conjugate like first group verbs.

I have listed below the mot frequent “IR” verbs:

English	French	English	French
to deepen	approfondir	to slow down	ralentir
to round up	arrondir	to think	réfléchir
to launder	blanchir	to dirty	salir
to choose	choisir	to react	réagir
to warn	avertir	to brown	brunir
to finish	finir	to blacken	noircir
to demolish	démolir	to embellish	embellir
to land	atterrir	to rejuvenate	rajeunir
to harden	durcir	to fill	remplir
to establish	établir	to join	unir
to thicken	épaissir	to blush	rougir
to enrich	enrichir	to ring	retentir
to provide	fournir	to supply	munir
to grow	grandir	to jump	bondir
to invest	investir	to weaken	affaiblir
to shorten	raccourcir	to abolish	abolir
to nourrish	nourrir	to soften	adoucir
to obey	obéir	to faint	s’évanouir
to cool down	refroidir	to clarify, to lighten	éclaircir
to gather	réunir	to ensure	garantir
to seize	saisir	to put on weight	grossir
to age	vieillir	to lose weight	maigrir
to vomit	vomir	to entertain	divertir
to betray	trahir	to punish	punir
to refresh	rafraîchir	to shrink	rétrécir

Conjugating second group verbs in French: Present simple

How to form the present simple?

The ending will be the same when conjugating second group verbs in French. These verbs finish by “IR”. However, there are verbs finishing by “IR” such as: partir, dormir, which will be part of the third group as they are irregular verbs. So, how can you know if a verb finishes by “IR” is from the second or the third group?

If the present participle ends by “ISSANT” then the verb will be part of the second group. We can say “finissant” but we cannot say “dormissant”, it will be instead “dormant”.

In order to conjugate, you will remove “IR” at the end of the infinitive verb and add the following endings:
–is, –is, –it, –issons, –issez, –issent

Let’s take an example with the verb “finir” (to finish):

Je finis
Tu finis
Il finit
Nous finissons
Vous finissez
Ils finissent

You will be able to conjugate any second group verbs in present tense just by learning these 6 endings! So, now it is your turn, practice with the verbs I gave you in the first part of this article “The 50 “IR” verbs most frequent in French”. You will soon realize that conjugating in French is not that difficult 😉

When to use present tense?

In French, we use the present simple to talk about facts, current and repeated situations but also future actions already planned.

Tous les weekends, j’invite des amis pour déjeuner. (Every weekend, I invite friends for lunch)
Je réunis la famille tous les mois lors d’une soirée. (I gather the whole family every month during an evening)
Le pilote d’avion attérit pour la première fois la semaine prochaine. (The pilot lands for the first time next week)
Nous choisissons de manger bio depuis maintenant plusieurs années. (We choose to eat organic for several years now)

Conjugating second group verbs in French: Past tense

How to form the past tense?

Imparfait

In French, when conjugating second group verbs in the imparfait, the ending will be the same.

In order to conjugate, you will remove “IR” at the end of the infinitive verb and add the following endings:
–issais, –issais, –issait, –issions, –issiez, –issaient

Let’s take an example with the verb “choisir” (to choose):

Je choisissais
Tu choisissais
Il choisissait
Nous chosissions
Vous choisissiez
Ils choisissaient

Learn these 6 endings then, you will be able to conjugate any verbs from the second group verbs in French in the imparfait! Practice with the verbs I gave you in the first part of this article “The 50 “IR” verbs most frequent in French”.

Passé composé

You will need to use two components when conjugating in the passé composé:
– the verb “être” or “avoir” in the present tense
– the past participle of the verb you want to conjugate

Present simple of the verb “être”: je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont

Present simple of the verb “avoir”: j’ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont

How to know which verb to use, “être” or “avoir”? For second group verbs, we will always use “avoir”. There will be an exception for “s’évanouir” where we will use “être” because it is a reflexive verbs (“se” or “s'” in front of the infinitive verb) but we will see that together in another lesson.

What is the past participle of “IR” verbs (from the second group)? You remove “IR” at the end of the infinitive verb and add “i”. For example “j’ai obéi” (I have obeyed).

Let’s take an example with the verb “obéir” (to obey):

When the direct object is placed before the verb, we will agree in gender and number with “avoir”. Just ask the question “what” and you will know if you have to agree or not. If the direct object is placed before the verb then you will agree. If it is placed after the verb, you will not agree. It is as simple as that! 🙂

Let’s see with examples:

Les fleurs qu’ils ont choisies étaient magnifiques. (The flowers they chose were beautiful)
They “chose” what? “les fleurs” which is placed before the verb. Therefore, we can agree in gender and number with the direct object “les fleurs”, which is feminine and plural so “choisies” with “es” at the end.

La poupée que nous avons embellie était très abîmée avant. (The doll we embellished was damaged a lot before) They “embellished” what? “la poupée” placed before the verb. We can then agree in gender and number with “la poupée” which is feminine and singular so “embellie” with “e” at the end.

French people still make the mistake when agreeing, so do not worry if you find this a bit confusing. Practising is the key to make it as natural as possible. Write as many sentences as possible and ask yourself the right question to know if you need to agree or not.

You might be interested by these articles

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When to use “imparfait” and “passé composé”?

“Imparfait” and “passé composé” are used regularly when speaking in French, so they are important to know.

“Imparfait” is used to describe conditions and repeated actions. The “passé composé” allows you to mentions the consequences of past actions. Let’s see that together into more details.

Imparfait

We use the “imparfait”, in the following situations:

• Continuous action: an action happening during a significant period of time.
  De 2000 à 2003, j’embellissais les écoles des quartiers les plus pauvres de la région. (From 2000 to 2003, I embellished schools from the poorest places of the region)
  Quand j’étais petite, je n’obéissais pas à mes parents. (When I was young, I did not obey to my parents)
• A condition: “imparfait” gives background to the main action.
  Nous nourrissions les oiseaux plus souvent l’année dernière. (We gave food to the birds more often last year)
  Sophie finissait la glace restante de sa grand-mère tous les weekends quand elle allait la visiter. (Sophie finished her grand-mother’s ice cream every weekend when she went to visit her)
• Repeated actions: when we describes habits that we used to do.
  Je salissais mes chaussures tous les jours quand j’avais 6 ans. (I used to dirty my shoes every day when I was 6)
• Physicial description.
  Il me semble que je rougissais au gala de fin d’année au moment du discours (It seems to me that I was blushing at the end of year gala when making the speech)
  Son visage blanchissait à la vue du sang. (His face turned white at the sight of blood)

Passé composé

The “passé composé” describes a completed action.
J’ai réuni mes collègues aujourd’hui pour une réunion. (I gathered my colleagues today for a meeting)
Nous avons choisi nos burgers pour ce soir. (We chose our burgers for tonight)
Je n’ai pas fourni le travail nécessaire aujourd’hui. (I did not provide the work needed today)

Sometimes, both “imparfait” and “passé composé” are used in the same sentence. The “imparfait” will set up a condition and the “passé composé” complete the action.

Puisque tu n’obéissais pas chez ta grand-mère, nous avons démoli ta cabane.

Conjugating second group verbs in French: Future tense

How to form the future tense?

In French, when conjugating second group verbs in the future tense, the ending will be the same.

In order to conjugate, you take the infinitive verb and add the following endings:
–ai, –as, –a, –ons, –ez, –ont

Let’s take an example with the verb “punir” (to punish):

Je punirai
Tu puniras
Il punira
Nous punirons
Vous punirez
Ils puniront

Let’s just learn these 6 endings and you will be conjugating any verbs from the second group verbs in French in the future simple! Practice with the verbs I gave you in the first part of this article “The 50 “IR” verbs most frequent in French”.

When to use future tense?

We use this tense to talk about what will happen in the future.

Nous punirons les enfants de télévision. (We will punish children from television)
Je maigrirai l’été prochain. (I will lose weight next summer)
Vous attérrirez à 19h à Paris. (You will land at 7pm in Paris)

Learn more vocabulary with the posters below to be able to make many sentences
and practice conjugating verbs by making full sentences

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Vocabulary posters

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Let’s pratice!

Remember that it is by practicing you will get the best results! I could give you all the free content you want, if you do not practice by yourself seriously you won’t be good in French. Here, I have created a fun game so you can practice more easily but this is not sufficient. I have made a selection below of grammar books I use and that I recommend so you can work on the exercises regularly!

Buying these grammar books using the below links (you will not pay more), allow me to get a little fee, to continue investing in my blog and help French learners.

Grammar for beginners

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Let’s practice how to conjugate second group verbs in French! In this game, you will have sentences and you need to either choose the correct tense or conjugate the verb at the person and tense mentioned. You can do it as many times as you want if you want to practice again later. Let’s do it seriously but with fun!

Let me know in the comments which tense do you find the most difficult and why when conjugating second group verbs in French? So I can support you further 🙂

A bientôt!