Language/French/Grammar/Verb-forms-—-Introduction
As in many languages, verbs in French have different forms for the different functions they perform in sentences. It is traditional (and easiest for reference) to present verb forms in paradigms (i.e. lists), and this is what we do in this chapter. We follow Judge and Healey (1983) in dividing the paradigms into simple forms, compound forms and double compound forms. Simple forms are made up of stems to which endings are attached. Compound forms are made up of forms of the auxiliary verbs avoir and être plus a past participle. Double compound forms are made up of forms of the compound auxiliary verbs avoir eu or avoir été plus a past participle. The set of verb forms that this produces is illustrated below, using the third person singular form of the verb donner 'to give' (stems are in normal type, endings are in bold). Not all books and teachers use the terminology we employ here, so we have added other terms in common use in brackets:
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