French Regular -IR Verbs
There are 5 main kinds of French verbs: -er, -ir, -re, stem-changing, and irregular. Once you've learned the rules of conjugation for each of the first three kinds of verbs, you should have no problem conjugating regular verbs in each of those categories. This lesson is on -ir verbs, which are the second most common category.
Here are some of the many -ir verbs that you will soon be able to conjugate:
| abolir | to abolish |
| agir | to act |
| avertir | to warn |
| bâtir | to build |
| bénir | to bless |
| choisir | to choose |
| établir | to establish |
| étourdir | to stun, deafen, make dizzy |
| finir | to finish |
| grossir | to get fat |
| guérir | to cure, heal, recover |
| maigrir | to lose weight, get thin |
| nourrir | to feed, nourish |
| obéir | to obey |
| punir | to punish |
| réfléchir | to reflect, think |
| remplir | to fill |
| réussir | to succeed |
| rougir | to blush, turn red |
| vieillir | to grow old |
The verb form that ends in -ir is called the infinitive (in English, the infinitive is the verb preceded by the word "to"). -ir is the infinitive ending. The verb without the -ir is called the stem or radical.
To conjugate an -ir verb, remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings, as follows:
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| 1st person | je | -is | nous | -issons | ||
| 2nd person | tu | -is | vous | -issez | ||
| 3rd person | il | -it | ils | -issent | ||
Thus to conjugate choisir, you would remove the infinitive ending to find the radical chois- and then add the appropriate endings:
| CHOISIR | Singular | Plural | ||||
| 1st person | je | choisis | nous | choisissons | ||
| 2nd person | tu | choisis | vous | choisissez | ||
| 3rd person | il | choisit | ils | choisissent | ||
All regular -ir verbs are conjugated according to this pattern. However, there are a fair number of irregular -ir verbs, which are addressed here: Irregular -IR verbs
Example of an -IR verb in all tenses
-ER Verbs -RE Verbs Using the present tense
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Regular -IR Verbs
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