French

[Aa01]

In French, everytime you talk about 'we' doing something, do you always put an 's' on the end of the verb?? Or does it only occur with etre or avoir?? If anyone could give any examples that wold be great.

[Rebecca611]

It's usually:

Vous avez, vous etez, vous allez, vous habitez....so I think it's usually a 'z' , however as there are so many other verbs they may use some 's' at the end but I can't remember them all!

Using 'Vous' is used as 'we', but it also a polite way of saying 'You'.

Hope this helps!!

[Goodsoulette]

avoir is an irregular verb so yes it is normally a z attendez-vous. rendez-vous. Just learn the verb formation then your irregular verbs seperately.

[maximo]

Are you asking about the ending of the verb when used with the subject " nous" ( we ) ?

In this case, in the present form, then the answer to your question is yes. In the present form, verbs used with the subject "nous" end in " - ons", as in , for example :

nous faisons, nous mangeons, nous allons, nous prenons, nous avons.....

The only exception, as far as I'm aware ( a bit braindead at this time ! ), is the verb "to be" , ie : "etre" : you would say " nous sommes" .

Please correct me if I missed something there ! :-)

[SteveD]

Aa01 is asking about the verb ending in the first person plural, present tense (i.e. the "nous" form).

Maximo is right but both Rebecca611 and Goodsoulette are wrong as they talk about the formal second person singular ("vous") and/or the second person plural (also "vous"). (It's "vous �tes", by the way).

[Calvesy]

All conjugations and moods of all French verbs in the first person plural have the -ons suffix except for past historic which ends in -mes. So you're right all 'nous' forms end in 's'.

e.g. The French national anthem starts: "Allons enfants de la patrie", Let's go, children of the fatherland.

[Rebecca611]

Woops sorry. Have just realised I got it completely wrong!!

[SteveD]

Calvesy, sorry but your example is not the first person plural, present indicative but the imperative form. The present indicative of "aller" is:

je vais

[SteveD]

Sorry, all thumbs again!

AVOIR

Je vais Nous allons

Tu vas Vous allez

Il/elle va Ils vont

[maximo]

Lol SteveD ! Surely you meant the verb ALLER here, not AVOIR ? Sorry, couldn't resist ! ;-)

[SteveD]

Maximo, I'm a confused, grey-haired old git - humour me! I'm just surprised that it took you a day and a half to spot my deliberate mistake.

AVOIR

J'ai

Tu as

Il/elle a

Nous avons

Vous avez

Ils ont

[lynneuk74]

Steve D - you have lost everyone completely.

Aa01 is talking about WE - NOUS. Aller may be Je vais but it is nous avons so the ruling is still correct.

We learnt (when talking in the present tense of course) Je - e

[lynneuk74]

Aa01 - there are always exceptions to every rule!!! My French is a 'petit peu' rusty..... but generally, in the present tense, you remove the 'er' and replace with

Je - e, Tu - es, Il - e, Elle - e, Nous - ons, Vous - ez, Ils - ent, Elles - ent.

So nous allons, nous mangons, nous pouvons etc.

For avoir you have:

J'ai, Tu as, Il a, Elle a, Nous avons, Vous avez, Ils ont, Elles ont.

For etre you have:

Je suis, Tu es, Il est, Elles est, Nous etions, Vous etiez, Ils etient, Elles etient.

Remember, this is just the present tense. Other tenses - past perfect, past imperfect and future - have different rules!!!

Hope that helped - it makes me feel good to still be able to remember after doing A Level French 13 years ago!!!!!

[SteveD]

Lynneuk74, you say I am confusing the issue!!

For a start, it's "nous mangeons" (the "e" is necessary to retain the soft "g" sound). For "�tre" you have gone very wrong. The present tense is: Je suis, Tu es, Il/elle est, Nous sommes, Vous �tes, Ils/elles sont.

[lynneuk74]

Told you I was rusty Steve!!! Was only saying you were confusing things by talking of 'je vais' when Aa01 was asking about 'nous'.

Wasn't meaning you were wrong but that talking of present indicatives etc isn't really answering the question.

Wasn't 100% on the 'etre' myself - had forgotton all about nous sommes and vous etes!!!! Guess I generally tend to use French in the first person singular rather than plural.