Une personne intéressante : -re verbs like 'traduire' and 'écrire' | French

Starter quiz

Match the following French words to their English translations.

entendre

⇔

to hear, hearing ✓

prendre

⇔

to take, taking ✓

aimer

⇔

to like, liking ✓

payer

⇔

to pay, paying ✓

traduire

⇔

to translate, translating ✓

écrire

⇔

to write, writing ✓
In which of these words do we hear a hard [s] sound, like in 'maison'?

joues

danser

dessiner

disons ✓

oiseau ✓
Choose the correct form of the verb to complete the following sentence: 'Elle aime __________ au foot.'

jouer ✓

joue

jouez

jouent

jouons
Match the subject pronouns to the correct forms of the verb 'vendre'.

je

⇔

vends ✓

il

⇔

vend ✓

nous

⇔

vendons ✓

vous

⇔

vendez ✓

elles

⇔

vendent ✓
Which word in the following sentence would you replace 'cette robe' with to say 'It is beautiful.'? 'Cette robe est belle.'

Il

Elles

Elle ✓

Ils
Translate the following sentence into French: 'She likes to dance.'

'Elle aime danser.' ✓

Exit quiz

Match these French infinitives to the correct English translations.

produire

⇔

to produce, producing ✓

oublier

⇔

to forget, forgetting ✓

raconter

⇔

to tell, narrate ✓

rendre

⇔

to return, give back ✓

chanter

⇔

to sing, singing ✓

conduire

⇔

to drive, driving ✓
Match the following French verbs to their English translations.

entendre

⇔

to hear, hearing ✓

prendre

⇔

to take, taking ✓

traduire

⇔

to translate, translating ✓

écrire

⇔

to write, writing ✓
Which of these verbs follows the same pattern as 'écrire'?

jouer

se laver

décrire ✓

raconter

aimer
What do all the following verbs have in common? 'Lire', 'dire', 'conduire', 'produire', 'construire'.

They follow the pattern of 'écrire'.

They follow the pattern of 'entendre'.

They follow the pattern of 'prendre'.

They follow the pattern of 'traduire'. ✓
What letter do we add to the stem in the plural forms of the verb 'écrire'?

'v' ✓
Which form of 'écrire' fills the gap in the following sentence correctly? 'Vous ______ une lettre.'

'écrivez' ✓

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Some -re verbs in the present tense follow the pattern of 'traduire' (-s added to stem for 'nous/vous/ils/elles' forms)
[s] is pronounced as in 'maison' when between two vowels.
The verb 'écrire' and its derivatives are conjugated differently (-v added to stem in 'nous/vous/ils/elles' forms).
Four groups of -re verbs are verbs like 'entendre', verbs like 'prendre', verbs like 'traduire' and verbs like 'écrire'.
All four groups of -re verbs can be combined with -er verbs to describe somebody's interests and achievements.

Common misconception

[s] is always a silent final consonant.

[s] is usually a silent final consonant, but is pronounced when between two vowels. It's helpful to look out for verbs that start with a vowel. With such verbs in the third person plural, the 's' on 'ils' and 'elles' is pronounced.

Keywords

Entendre - an example of the most common group of -re verbs, meaning ‘to hear’
Prendre - an example of another group of -re verbs, meaning 'to take'
Traduire - an example of a further group of -re verbs, meaning ‘to translate’
écrire - an example of a further group of -re verbs, meaning ‘to write’