cxtetootsie

[terse sundial]

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.

[pseudo drum]

vouloir, pouvoir and devoir are irregular verbs in French. Although there are patterns you can use, they have their own conjugation.

[tall cloud]

https://www.wordreference.com/conj/frverbs.aspx?v=vouloir

WordReference has conjugation tables for all the verbs, and all the tenses

[fluid magnet]

thank you !!!

when my teacher says i need to know how to conjugate it in the recent, is that still past tense or is it something different?

[tall cloud]

the recent past is just "venir de" plus the verb in the infinitive

[fluid magnet]

wdymby the verb in the infinitive??

[tall cloud]

the unconjugated form

[pseudo drum]

with "manger"
"je viens de manger" (I just ate)

[tall cloud]

je viens de manger -> i just ate

manger is in the infinitive here

wow same example

[pseudo drum]

https://tenor.com/view/hpw-caseylee-vt-yourtooslow-sonic-gif-20141993

[fluid magnet]

so do we conjugate venir instead?

[pseudo drum]

exactly

with recent past, venir is conjugated in present tense

[fluid magnet]

and then the infinitive doesnt get conjugated?

[tall cloud]

correct

[pseudo drum]

right, only one conjugated verb per clause. With recent past, you conjugate venir, the other verb remains in the infinitive (base form, not conjugated)

[fluid magnet]

okok i got it

thank you so much

[pseudo drum]

also note there is not one single way to form past sentences in French. Recent past is one construction, and not the most common one.

[fluid magnet]

okie !! my teacher just wanted us to know it for our test tomorrow

ok wait so for example

if i wanted to say we just studied for the quiz

it would be, " nous venons de etudier pour la quiz "

???

[pseudo drum]

oui, presque

[fluid magnet]

whats presque?

[pseudo drum]

"nous venons d**'é**tudier pour le quiz"
but no mistake when it comes to conjugation

[fluid magnet]

okie, tysm!!

[fluid magnet]

ok wait another question about direct pronouns

[pseudo drum]

(sorry just realized I answered in French presque means almost)

[fluid magnet]

If i were to change " Mon pere va achete l'huile d'olive." would i change it to " mon pere va l'achteter?"

[fluid magnet]

its okay!!

[pseudo drum]

right, because you're replacing something specific, you have to use the object pronoun "la" (elides to "l' " because of the following vowel), and object pronouns are placed before the verb

[fluid magnet]

okok, tysm!!

so sorry, but another question. in what type of situations would i use pouvior bc it means to be able, right?

right now our unit is about restaurants and ordering food, so im a bit confused on how to use it in a sentence

[pseudo drum]

pouvoir is to can, to be able, so you can use it any time you'd want to express the idea of ability (it shares a root with "power" in English)

alongside another verb (conjugated pouvoir + infinitive)

[fluid magnet]

so like foodwise for my unit, i could talk about what im able to eat and what im not able to eat like for allergies?

im only asking this bc theres a writing portion on the test

[pseudo drum]

yeah for instance

[fluid magnet]

if i wanted to say i heard, would i say " j'ai ecoute "

[pseudo drum]

"j'ai écouté" is one way to say it, indeed. It uses passé composé, which is a tense used for one-time events that happened in the past

[fluid magnet]

tyyy

[tall cloud]

@restive sand Please respond in threads. And pluvoir was likely a typo for pleuvoir

[restive sand]

My bad, it's my first time answering a question here.

[serene girder]

my controversial take is that it was a typo for "pouvoir"

[fluid magnet]

it was this one