present tense verbs + infinitives

PRESENT TENSE VE RBS + INFINITIVES
An infinitive is a verb (or in other words a ‘doing word’) such as ‘to play’, to go … which has not
been changed in any way. It’s how you’ll find it in a dictionary.
In English, you can spot an infinitive by the fact it has the word ‘to’ in front. So, to play is an infinitive
and I play is not.
In French, they do not have the word ‘to’, they have an ending instead and it’s virtually always : E R for
example : jouer, manger, regarder, nager… Occasionally it’s I R , eg finir, venir, avoir and on a very few
occasions, it’s RE , eg être (to be), vendre (to sell), rendre (to give back, hand in), prendre (to take)
As we have seen already, in French you knock off the endings (er, ir or re) and then add a series of
other endings to produce the present tense. We sometimes do the same in English,
eg to go  he goes, to play  I played, to walk  I’m walking
eg manger je mange, écouter  tu écoutes, aller  nous allons
It’s also quite common in English, to change the look of the verb: to see  I saw, to run  I ran and on
occasions, the word changes completely : to have to  I must, to go  I went, to be able to  I can
Sometimes this happens in French but it is not half as common as it is in English : here are 3 of the
most common in French : aller, avoir & être & to get top marks, you need to learn them by heart :
A LL E R
AVOI R
ÊTRE
je
vais
j’ai
je suis
tu
vas
as
es
il/elle/on
va
a
est
nous
allons
avons
sommes
vous
allez
avez
êtes
iles/elles
vont
ont
sont
If you want to use a second verb in your sentence, such as : I like to ski, I’m going to play, I can
play… In French, it is always followed by an infinitive (in other words, a verb ending in E R, or I R
or possibly RE ). If you notice in the English examples above, we don’t always use the infinitive : I
can play (we have dropped the ‘to’). Sometimes in English, we use ING at the end of a verb instead of
using the infinitive ‘to’ eg I like to play or I like playing – in French there is no alternative, you
always use the infinitive ! j’aime jouer
Je peux jouer, j’aime écouter, je veux aller, j’adore regarder, je vais avoir, je voudrais être
Here are also some common verbs in the present you will need to know & learn to get A/A* at GCSE
je veux – I want, je dois – I have to/must, j’ai besoin de – I need, je sais – I know (how to)
je connais – I know (person/language), il y a – there is/are, je sors – I go out, je pars – I leave
PRACTI CE
1. Je voudrais (to go) _____________ en Egypte cet été
2. Je sais (speak)________________ français et allemand
3. J’ai besoin de (to work) ________________ pour mes examens cette année
4. Je vais (to stay)_________________ chez moi ce weekend et (to play) ___________ au foot
5. J’aime (to download)___________________ de la musique son mon portable
6. Je veux (to buy) m’________________ un nouvel ordinateur
7. J’adore (to get up) ___________________ tard le matin
8. Je dois (to do) _________________ mes devoirs avant de (watching)____________ la télé
9. J’aimerais (to be able to)___________________ (to go) ______________ de l’alpinisme
10.
On va (to visit)_________________ mes grands-parents pour (to celebrate) ___________ Noël
Traduisez en français
1.
I have to study maths at school_________________________________________________
2.
I want to go to Australia ______________________________________________________
3.
We can go out tonight ________________________________________________________
4.
I like surfing the net __________________________________________________________
5.
I’d like to watch the rugby on TV_________________________________________________
6.
I’m going to meet my friends in town _____________________________________________
Tes examples en anglais et en français
1.
_______________________________________________________________________________
2.
_______________________________________________________________________________
3.
_______________________________________________________________________________
4.
_______________________________________________________________________________
5.
_______________________________________________________________________________
My notes :