Bonjour

[sai sisai]

Je suis etudier le francais pour deux mois.  Récemment, j'ai rencontré quelqu'un qui dit qu'il a étudié le français aussi. Il avait étudié pendant 5 ans et quand il est allé en France, il s'est rendu compte que tous les verbes français a sonné le même. Je suis sceptique des déclarations générales de ce genre et il me semble plus comme la paresse de sa part. Mais j'ai remarqué que les verbes subjonctif présent, imparfait et présente sonnent pareil (sauf pour le nous / vous verbes conjugués). Voir: Achete, Achetais,

Je ne suis pas suffisamment familier avec les verbes français, mais j'ai remarqué cela et j'espérais qu'il y avait un modèle. Que pouvez-vous compter sur toute sécurité. J'aime lire et ne me dérange pas connaissance de cette information, mais quand je parle je tomber sur la pensée à travers ces choses comme je parle à l'indicatif droit? Sachant d'avance que je n'ai pas de s'attarder sur cela aiderait à apprendre beaucoup plus rapide. Ou à tout le moins être moins timides à parler français. Merci

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Recently I met someone who said he studied french also.   He had studied for 5 years and when he went to france he realized that all the french verbs sounded the same.   I'm skeptical of blanket statements like this and seems to me more like laziness on his part.   But I've noticed that the present, imparfait and present subjonctif verbs sound the same (except for the nous/vous conjugated verbs).  See:Achete, Achetais,

I'm not sufficiently familiar with french verbs but I noticed this and was hoping that there was a pattern.   What can you safely rely upon.  I enjoy reading and don't mind knowing this information but when I speak I stumble over thinking through these things like, am I speaking in the right tense?   Knowing ahead of time that i don't have to dwell on this would help in learning much faster.   Or at the very least be less shy about speaking french.  Thanks

[Neil Coffey]

Yes, basically what your friend says is true. The spelling system of French makes the verb system look artificially more complex than it actually is, at least in everyday speech.

 

For example, in the present tense of -er verbs, there are 5 written forms (e.g. donner > donne, donnes, donnons, donnez, donnent). But in reality: (a) the "nous" form is hardly ever used in everyday speech;  (b) the forms "donne", "donnes", "donnent" all sound the same; and (c) "donner" and "donnez" sound the same. So what looks like 6 forms in reality boils down to just 2 forms in everyday use.

 

[Charlie's French Factory]

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! For only 2 months, your French is impressive. Keep up the good work!

the present, imparfait and present subjonctif verbs sound the same

The present and subjunctive do tend to sound the same, but NOT the imperfect.

Like Neil said, "donne", "donnes", "donnent" all sound the same.

However, in your example I think you stated that j'achète and j'achetais sounded the same, and this isn't the case.

j'achète is pronounced - ZHa shEt

whereas j'achetais is pronounced - ZHash tE (E being the sound in lEtter)

 

Hope this helps!

[sai sisai]

Oui vous avez raison. J'ai fait une erreur sur l'imparfait acheter verbe sonner le même. Je suis content que ce n'est pas aussi compliqué qu'il se lit. Bien que je sois à l'aise avec la forme écrite, je sais parler et d'entendre, c'est une autre question.

Donc, Neil 2 formes dans l'usage quotidien? Est-ce n'est pas y compris le conditionnel, imparfait, passé composé. Vous voulez dire 2 formes seulement dans le temps présent et subjunctif? Je suis content que ce n'est pas aussi compliqué qu'il se lit. Bien que je sois à l'aise avec la forme écrite, je sais parler et d'entendre, c'est une autre question.

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Yes you are right.  I made a mistake on the verb acheter imparfait sounding the same.  I'm glad it isn't as complicated as it reads.   Although I am comfortable with the written form, I know speaking and hearing it is another issue. 

So Neil 2 forms in everyday use?  Is isn't including the conditional, imparfait, passe compose.  Are you saying 2 forms only in the present tense and subjunctif?  I'm glad it isn't as complicated as it reads.   Although I am comfortable with the written form, I know speaking and hearing it is another issue.

[Neil Coffey]

I was just looking at the present tense.

 

But a similar thing happens in other tenses: there are really fewer distinct forms than at first meets the eye. For example, in the conditional, the forms chanterais/chanterait/chanteraient sound the same (and a similar pattern for the imperfect-- the imperfect and conditional endings are essentially the same). In the future, chanteras and chantera sound the same; chanterons and chanteront sound the same...

 

Of course, there are also a few cases where there are more distinct forms. If you think about the verb être, this gives suis/es/est/sommes/êtes/sont, so five different pronunciations in the present tense (es and est sound the same).

 

The subjunctive doesn't USUALLY generate new forms as such: the singular forms and 3rd person plural (ils) forms usually sound identical to the 3rd person plural indicative, and the nous/vous forms USUALLY are identical to the corresponding imperfect forms.

 

There are a few exceptions to this-- e.g. être gives soit and similar forms, which doesn't occur at all in the "normal" indicative present tense; and the verb voir has normal present tense ils voient, which conventionally is also the subjunctive form (so que je voie, que tu voies etc), but younger speakers are starting to replace this with que je voye, que tu voyes etc. But these are really corner cases-- the general pattern is as I say, that the subjunctive doesn't tend to create new forms as such.

 

The passé composé is essentially an artificial form only used in certain types of literature and does behave a little bit differently. It does have more distinct forms than in other tenses: but as I say, it's really a form that's artificially maintained these days, so it's a bit unfair to include it in the "general equation" of how French verbs work.

 

[sai sisai]

Merci pour le indiquant les similitudes. En plus de ce que vous avez souligné, j'entends la même prononciation avec le JE futur et les sons vous. Comme dans tomberai / tomberez.

Sur toutes ce n'est vraiment pas aussi difficile qu'il lit. Je pense que ce qui est le plus menaçant sur ​​l'apprentissage d'une autre langue est l'idée fausse de comment il est difficile. Je pensais que les verbes allaient être les plus difficiles mais ce n'est pas le cas.
merci

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Thanks for the pointing out the similarities.    On top of what you've highlighted, I hear the same pronunciation with the future tense je and vous sounds.   As in tomberai / tomberez.  

Over all it's really not as difficult as it reads.  I think what's most threatening about learning another language is the misconception of how difficult it is.   I thought the verbs were going to be the most difficult but that's not the case. 

thank you