Conjugation

Conjugation is a traditional term indicating that verbs can be classified according to the shape of the inflectional endings they may take. See also declension class.

Examples

For example, in French verbs that share the same endings are grouped together and are conjugated similarly as in the following example where verbs ending in -er in the infinitive are conjugated the same way in all five possible inflections: Person, Number, Mood, Tense, and Voice:

Present

je	parle
tu	parles
il/elle	parle
Nous	parlons
Vous	parlez
ils/elles	parlent

Imperfect

je	parlais
tu	parlais
il/elle	parlait
Nous	parlions
Vous	parliez
ils/elles	parlaient

Now a verb that shares the same ending -er with parler like aimer has a similar pattern when conjugated in the present and the imperfect.

Present

je	aime
tu	aimes
il/elle	aime
Nous	aimons
Vous	aimez
ils/elles	aiment

Imperfect

je	aimais
tu	aimais
il/elle	aimait
Nous	aimions
Vous	aimiez
ils/elles	aimaient

Useful Links

• French Verbs
• Gramatical Conjugation
• Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

Other languages

German Konjugation