johnswords

[tough dock]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[vestal rapids]

You mean conjugation tables...?

[twilit nimbus]

I suppose yes. But also with what form goes with what 1st/2nd/3rd person.

After studying a couple of hundred French sentences. I can usually translate a sentence but don't know what form to use.

[main tundra]

That's pretty much what conjugation is.
Look up conjugation tables, you'll find plenty of resources

[twilit nimbus]

I see. And should I just memorise them? How much?

[main tundra]

There aren't random. There are set patterns to systematically derive all the forms of each verb. Like in English there are irregular verbs but these generally follow different sub patterns from the regular ones.

[twilit nimbus]

So there's a pattern generally. For each verb or for sets of verbs following same patterns?

[main tundra]

So you can study conjugation tables and then practice by applying them to new verbs and see if you get their form right.
My point is that you do not need to indigidually memorize every last form of every verb you know

[twilit nimbus]

I see.

[main tundra]

There are several patterns. The most common by far is the one followed by regular -er verbs such as parler. The vast majority of verbs follow this pattern, though many of the most commonly used ones don't.
The other two common patterns generally considered regular are those of -ir verbs like finir, and -dre verbs like vendre.

[twilit nimbus]

Thank you for your input. I will see the tables now.

[main tundra]

Think of it like English: for most verbs you can just look at its base form, like bamboozle, and know that its conjugated forms are bamboozles, bamboozled and bamboozling without needing to encounter them beforehand.
Then there are irregular verbs with unexpected forms, like send becoming sent instead of sended, but these generally follow alternative patterns such that the forms of an irregular verb will never be completely unpredictable, save for a handful of highly irregular ones like go > went and be > was.
French is no different in that regard.