Chapitre Quatre
Stem-Changing Verbs
Exercice 4.23 - 4.25
Les verbes dont le radical se modifie
Stem-changers / Boot verbs
In French, infinitives are made up of two parts: the stem & the ending.
ACHETER: To buy
Stem Ending
We are already very familiar with present tense verb endings—we know that every verb will end in –RE, –ER, or –IR, and that the endings for each group will change in the same way when the verb is conjugated (unless it is an irregular verb).
The stem is everything up to the –RE, –ER, or –IR ending. We haven’t talked much about this part of the verb yet because the verbs we have seen thus far keep the original stem. However, there are many –ER verbs in French that see a slight change in the stem when the verb is conjugated, which we often refer to as Stem-Changing Verbs, Stem-Changers, or Boot Verbs.
When students first start learning to use Stem-Changers, they focus so much on the change in the stem that they often start to misuse endings. It is important to remember that our endings are going to continue to work just like they always do, so let’s review our regular present tense endings for –ER verbs.
–ER verbs
—ER Verb Endings
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | je -e | nous -ons |
| 2nd person | tu -es | vous -ez |
| 3rd person | il -e
elle -e on -e |
ils -ent
elles -ent |
*Remember that the only endings we hear pronounced are –ons and –ez.
When students are initially learning to use these verbs, they wonder if there is some trick to identify them by the way they are spelled, or some other clue that can be found if you know where to look. While there are some trends, memorizing the rules for various categories and their exceptions would be just as much work as memorizing the verbs you use regularly.
You just have to know which verbs take a stem-change. How will you “just know” a certain verb stem changes? Because you studied and practiced each of them… a lot.
How to use Stem-Changing Verbs:
- The verb endings are the same as always.
- The stem change takes place when the verb is conjugated in all forms EXCEPT nous and vous.
- Possible stem-changes are:
| LETTER AS IT APPEARS IN THE INFINITIVE | LETTER IT BECOMES IN THE BOOT SHAPE CONJUGATIONS |
| Y | I |
| E | È |
| É | È |
| L | LL |
| T | TT |
When studying the new vocabulary, study the infinitive with the stem-change. It’s best to learn the meaning and the change simultaneously.
Common Stem-Changing Verbs:
Exercice 4.23
Exercice 4.24
Exercice 4.25
Media Attributions
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to clean
to use, to employ
to send
to annoy, to bother
to try
to get bored, to be bored
to celebrate
to repeat
to prefer
to suggest
to call
to call back, to recall
to spell
to bring, to take
to weigh
to raise, to lift
to take for a walk
to go for a walk
to hiccup
to throw
to release, to throw out, to reject
to throw, to launch
