There are a number of important verbs that end in IR and RE. Some of which we just looked at in the last chapter. The point to make here is that there is a slight difference in the conjugation but overall, we continue to follow the same system.
Lire – Read
Je lis mon livre zhe lee mo' livre I read (my book)
Tu lis ton livre tchoo lee to' livre You read (your book)
Il/Elle lit son livre il/el lee so' livre He/She reads (his/her book)
Mon - My (masc.)
Ton - Your (masc.)
Son - His (masc.)
On lit o’ lee We read (informal/verbal)
Nous lisons noo li-zo’ We read (formal)
Vous lisez voo li-zay You read (polite/formal/plural)
Ils/Elles lisent il/el liz They read (masc. And fem.)
Once again, in our first four examples, je, tu, il/elle and on we pronounce the conjugated verb exactly the same way, lee. Not forgetting that the last consonant is silent whether that be the ‘s’ in Je lis & Tu lis, or the ‘t’ in Il/Elle lit and On lit.
From this point on also take for granted;
1. Whenever you see ON in the exercises that it is the informal, verbal way of saying WE. When the following verb begins with a consonant or ‘hard’ letter the N in ON is a soft nasal sound and will be denoted with an apostrophe (‘) after the N.
eg. On compare – We compare on’ com-par
When the verb begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o or u) we pronounce the N in ON as a hard letter as we would in English. Eg. On accept - We accept.
This is just another detail, it will come with practice.
2. NOUS is the formal written way of saying WE
3. VOUS is either the formal/polite way of addressing one person that we don’t know or do not know well. It is also the correct way of addressing two or more people as YOU.
4. Ils/Elles is THEY. We use ILS when referring to a group of males. We use ELLES when referring to a group of females. As already mentioned, for a mixed group of males and females (even if there are one hundred females and only one male) we refer to the group as ILS.
For an example of an IR verb we will use; Recevoir (pronounced re-sev-warr, warr as in far).
Recevoir - To receive
Je recois I receive zhe res-warr (warr as in far)
Tu recois You receive tu res-warr
Il/Elle recoit He/She receives il/el res-warr
On recoit We receive on res-warr
Nous recevons We receive noo re-se-vo'
Vous recevez You receive voo re-se-vay
Ils/Elles recoivent They receive il/el res-warrv
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