Verb Conjugation: Particularities

Irregular verbs make the French conjugations pretty complicated; however, there are several other particularities you need to be aware of.

Stem-Changing Verbs Ending in -ayer/-oyer/-uyer

Rule 1: With verbs that end in -ayer, -oyer, or -uyer, most of time -y- in the root becomes -i- in the singular and in the third person plural. Such verbs are called stem-changing verbs. Let's look at the conjugation of the verb nettoyer (to clean):

Rule 2: Please note that with the verbs ending in -ayer, this chance is optional. You can see this on the example of the verb essayer (to try):

Verbs Ending in -cer and -ger

Rule 3: For all verbs ending in -cer you have to use -ç- instead of -c- in the first person plural so that the pronunciation of the stem is preserved.

Rule 4: For all verbs ending in -ger, you have to use -ge- instead of -g- in the first person plural so that the pronunciation of the stem is preserved.

Verbs Ending in -er

Rule 5: Before a silent -e, the -é changes to -è (in the singular and in the third person plural).

Before a silent -e, the -e changes to -è or a consonant doubles in the stem (in the singular and in the third person plural).