The University of Western Ontario
Department of French
University College 138B

FR 002~002: Supplément de la grammaire

Les verbes du chapitre préliminaire

We have noticed that several verbs re-occur frequently in the chapter. These verbs are quite useful in the context of greetings and introductions. They are:

présenter, se présenter, appeler, s'appeler and aller

They are conjugated below:

presenter
(to present, to introduce)

se presenter
(to introduce oneself)

appeler
(to call, to name, to appeal)

s'appeler
(to call oneself, to be named)

aller
(to go)

je présent-e
tu présent-es
il/elle présent-e

nous présent-ons
vous présent-ez
ils/elles présent-ent

je me présent-e
tu te présent-es
il/elle se présent-e

nous nous présent-ons
vous vous présent-ez
ils/elles se présent-ent

j'appell-e
t'appell-es
il/elle appell-e

nous appel-ons
vous appel-ez
ils/elles appell-ent

je m'appell-e
tu t'appell-es
il/elle s'appell-e

nous nous appel-ons
vous vous appel-ez
ils/elles s'appell-ent

je vais
tu vas
il/elle va

nous allons
vous allez
ils/elles vont

There is much to be observed in these five verbs. First, both présenter and appeler are regular verbs of the -er group: the verbs with infinitives ending in -er. The conjugation of these verbs is regular in that it is the same for ALL regular verbs of this same -er group (notice the same endings -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent). The endings in red indicate that these endings are silent, therefore, the je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles forms sound exactly the same. However alike, we must also observe that when the particle se is added the meaning or action of the verb does change slightly. These verbs are now reflexive verbs and their action is directed back to the subject rather than towards another object thus restricting the meaning. You should note that the particle se changes with each subject (me, te, se, nous, vous, se). These are called the reflexive pronouns which we will be examining later in the course BUT the distinction must be made from the indirect object pronouns that we have also observed in use in this chapter. While these two pronouns appear very similar, they are in fact very different. Again, we will discuss these pronouns in depth later in the course but you can observe their differing functions in the grammar still:

Ex:      • Je me présente.
             "I introduce/present myself.". (me=myself)

             •Tu te présentes.
             "You introduce/present yourself.". (te=yourself)

             • Il/Elle se présente.
             "He/She introduces/presents himself/herself.". (se=himself/herself)

             •Nous nous présentons.
             "We introduce/present ourselves.". (nous=ourselves)

             •Vous vous présentez.
             "You introduce/present yourselves.". (vous=yourselves)

             • Ils/Elles se présentent.
             "He/She introduces/presents themselves". (se=themselves)

versus      •Je te présente Valérie.
                 "I introduce/present Valerie to you". (te=to you sing.)

                 •Je lui présente Valérie.
                 "I introduce/present Valerie to him/her". (lui=to him/her)

                •Je vous présente Valérie.
                 "I introduce/present Valerie to you". (vous=to you pl. or formal)

                 •Je leur présente Valérie.
                 "I introduce/present Valerie to them". (leur=to them)

The verb appeler however, demonstrates a word-medial spelling change (the -l doubles -ll) called "stem-changing" and a contracted form (m', t', s'). These phenomena will also be examined more thoroughly later in this course. Can you discern the rules through observation?