Lesson 5: Recreation

Regular -er Verbs

Formation

Most French verbs fall into the category of -er verbs. To conjugate, drop the -er to find the “stem” or “root”. Add endings to the root based on the subject and tense.

jouer – to play

French Grammar • Recreation -er Verb Formation Formation de verbes en -er
pronoun	ending	verb
je	-e	joue
tu	-es	joues
il/elle	-e	joue
nous	-ons	jouons
vous	-ez	jouez
ils/elles	-ent	jouent

Elision and Liaison

In all conjugations, je changes to j ‘ when followed by a vowel or silent h. Example: J’attends, J’habite…. If a phrase is negative, ne changes to n’.
In all plural forms, the s at the end of each subject pronoun, normally unpronounced, becomes a z sound and the n of on becomes pronounced when followed by a vowel.

Common -er Verbs

French Grammar • Recreation Formation of Common -er Verbs Formation des verbes communs en -er
Infinitive	Stem	Present Indicative Conjugation
		First Person	Second Person	Third Person
parler	parl	Je parle	Tu parles	Il parle	Singular
to speak		Nous parlons	Vous parlez	Ils parlent	Plural
habiter	habit	J’habite	Tu habites	Il habite	Singular
to live		Nous habitons	Vous habitez	Ils habitent	Plural
écouter	écout	J’écoute	Tu écoutes	Il écoute	Singular
to listen		Nous écoutons	Vous écoutez	Ils écoutent	Plural

S’amuser

The verb s’amuser means to have fun in English. It is a type of pronominal verb (a verbb that includes a pronoun as part of it) called a reflexive verb, which means that the action of the verb is reflected back onto the subject. Literally translated, the verb means To amuse oneself.

Formation

French Grammar • Recreation Formation of Common -er Verbs Formation des verbes communs en -er
Infinitive	Stem	Present Indicative Conjugation
		First Person	Second Person	Third Person
s’amuser	amus	Je m’amuse	Tu t’amuses	Il s’amuse	Singular
to have fun		Nous nous amusons	Vous vous amusez	Ils s’amusent	Plural

Conjugated Verb + Infinitive

Like in English, some verbs can be followed by infinitives. The most common -er verbs used in this manner are aimer and détester.

• J’aime parler. – I like to talk.
• Nous détestons travailler. – We hate working.

When negating a sentence, remember that the negative goes around the conjugated verb.

• Je n’aime pas parler. – I don’t like to speak.

Recreation

Here is a short dialog about people planning/doing leisure activities. Besides the new vocabulary you should also have a look at how the verbs are conjugated depending on the subject of the sentence.

• Jean-Paul : Qu’est-ce que vous faites ?
• Marc et Paul : Nous jouons au tennis.
• Marie : Je finis mes devoirs.
• Michel : J’attends mon amie.
• Pierre : Je vais au parc.
• Christophe : Je viens du stade.

Recreation

Qu’est-ce que vous faites?	What are you doing?
jouer	to play
finir	to finish
attendre	to wait (for)
aimer	to like
détester	to hate
(mon) ami(e)	(my) friend

Finir and attendre are not -er verbs. You will learn their conjugation in a later lesson.
Mon is often substituted for ma when the following word begins with a vowel. Thus, mon amie is used instead of ma amie, while ma bonne amie would be okay.

Places

la bibliothèque	library1
le parc	park
la piscine	swimming pool
la plage	beach
le restaurant	restaurant
salle de concert	concert hall
le stade	stadium
le théâtre	theater

¹Caution: a librairie is a bookshop.

Indirect Object Pronouns lui and leur

Indirect objects are prepositional phrases with the object of the preposition, a direct object is a noun that receives the action of a verb.

• Il jette la balle à Jacques. – He throws the ball to Jack.
• Il jette la balle à Marie. – He throws the ball to Mary.
• Il jette la balle à Jacques et Marie. – He throws the ball to Jack and Mary.

Lui and leur are indirect object pronouns. They replace nouns referring to people and mean to him/her and to them respectively.

• lui – replaces a singular masculine or feminine indirect object referring to a human
• leur – replaces a plural masculine or feminine indirect object referring to a human

An example follows:

• Il lui jette la balle. – He throws the ball to him.
• Il lui jette la balle. – He throws the ball to her.
• Il leur jette la balle. – He throws the ball to them.

Whether lui means to him or to her is given by context.
In English, “He throws him the ball” is also said, and means the same thing.
When used with the direct object pronouns le, la, and les, lui and leur come after those pronouns.

• Il la lui jette. – He throws it to him.

Note that while le, la, and les are used to replace people or inanimate objects, lui and leur are not used to replace innanimate objects and things.
Also note that unlike le and la, which are shortened to l’ when followed by a vowel, lui is never shortened

Jouer

The verb jouer is a regular -er verb meaning to play. It can be used to refer to both sports and instruments.
When referring to sports, use jouer à, but when referring to instruments, use jouer de…
As always, jouer must be conjugated rather than left in the infinitive.

French Vocabulary • Recreation Play Jouer
jouer à…		jouer de…
au baseball	baseball	de la clarinette	clarinet
au basket	basketball	du piano	piano
au football	soccer; football	de la guitare	guitar
au football américain	American football	du violon	violin
au golf	golf	de la batterie	drums (singular in French)
au tennis	tennis
au volley	volleyball
aux cartes	cards
aux dames	checkers/ draughts
aux échecs	chess