When you think of verbs, you think of the basics – run, jump, give, receive, etc. It seems pretty straightforward until you think about the tenses and how many verbs there actually are!! In English there over 900 regular verbs, now try to imagine the different languages, and what tenses there are for each verb – past, present, future… wait – there’s more??
In French alone there are three groups of verbs. The groups are regular verbs ending with “er”, except Aller, regular verbs ending with “ir”, and verbs with irregular conjugation ending with “re”, “ir”, “oir” and “aller”. Seems a little bit complicated doesn’t it?
Learning verbs can definitely seem overwhelming, especially since you have to learn each verb 3 (or more) types of ways. But, don’t worry, this guide will have you writing, drawing, saying, singing, rapping, shouting and humming your verbs. (See what I did there?)
1. Group Them In Categories
Typically, some verbs just aren’t used together. For example, you usually wouldn’t use eating and drowning in the same sentence. But, you would probably use drowning and swimming, and cooking and eating in the same two sentences. Write out all the verbs, and tenses and group them into certain categories with their similar verbs.
2. Learn The Verb With All Of It’s Tenses
When learning a language and having a conversation with someone in that language, nothing is worse than knowing only partly how to say something, but not being able to describe yourself fully. For example, if you know the verb to go, but you do not know the tenses, it’s a lot hard to describe where you went, and you end up sounding like you are still going to go there – it can get confusing! If you learn the tenses the same time you learn the verb, you’ll have extra practice, and an easier time remembering.
3. Find The Patterns
Find patterns and similarities between verbs. For example, verbs with similar roots and etymology or verbs from the same conjugation group. Often, there are different words for the same thing, like to cook and to prepare. If you can find linkages and patterns in these, then you are able to remember which ones to use and when.
4. Narrate Your Life
This technique makes you think about all of the verb you actually use. When you think in your head, or say out loud “I am putting the cereal in the drawer,” you not only practice your verbs, you practice language that is relevant to you – like what you eat for breakfast everyday. Plus, once you start narrating your life in a different language, you start thinking in that language – which is the goal after all.
5. Learn In Chunks
It can get quite intense, quite fast when you are learning each way to say each verb. This can be also very overwhelming. Instead of setting yourself up for confusion, try to learn verbs that are similar together. For example, verbs with the same ending are easier to learn first, and then the same beginning, and so on.
6. Construct Sentences That You Would and Would Not Normally Use
You can have a little bit of fun with this one. Take a set of verbs, for example: cooking, baking, making, eating, drinking, tasting, etc. and create a small story with these verbs. You can first describe what you did last night (i.e. I cooked food and ate it), and then you can get silly with it. You can use your imagination to make up funny stories (i.e. last night the rabbit cooked the snake croque monsieur while tasting some fine wine). When you use your imagination, you tend to remember things much better.
7. Focus On The Endings
Sometimes it’s hard to remember what verbs are regular and which ones are not. If you focus on the endings of each type of verb, and then remember those – when you see the route of the verb, your mind will associate which ending goes with what verb. It seems like quite a bit of memorization, but it occurs naturally when you break the verb up into the root word, endings, etc. When the stems are irregular, you’ll be happy that you’ve remembered the ending.
8. Learn The Hardest First
Have you ever heard the saying eat the frog for breakfast? Well you can definitely apply it to learning your verbs. If you focus on learning the hardest, most irregular verbs first, you will quickly accumulate a long list of verbs. Once you’ve perfected the hardest ones, remembering verbs with a simple, regular ending seems really easy.
9. Write and Study
This one goes without saying, but it works. You can try as many tricks are you’d like, but at the end of the day, it’s about if you know your verbs or not. Even having them written in a book and re-reading the spelling and writing of the verbs will help. If you’re having difficulties with a verb, try writing it out 3 times and then coming back to it the next day. You’ll be surprised how much you remember!
10. Talk To People!
Learning a language is all about learning from people, and about yourself. When you’re talking to a native speaker, generally they are quite understanding. For example, if you know the root of a verb, but you ask Comment dit-on this verb in the past tense? Generally, you’ll be able to learn a lot from speaking with people, even if they are just simple conversations about what you ate for dinner last night:)
