Present Tense-

Irregular I R Verbs, Part 1-

We will now learn to conjugate in the present tense a few commonly used irregular verbs whose infinitives end with the letters I R. Those we will cover in this module are: courir (to run), dormir (to sleep), mentir (to lie), partir (to leave), servir (to serve), and sortir (to go out).

Here is the verb courir conjugated in the present tense:

courir-	English Translation-
je cours-	I run, I am running-
tu cours-	you (familiar) run, are running-
il, elle, on court-	he, she, one runs, is running-
nous courons-	we run, are running-
vous courez-	you run, are running-
ils, elles courent-	they run, are running-

Now listen to the verb dormir conjugated in the present tense:

dormir-	English Translation-
je dors-	I sleep, I am sleeping-
tu dors-	you (familiar) sleep, are sleeping-
il, elle, on dort-	he, she, one sleeps, is sleeping-
nous dormons-	we sleep, are sleeping-
vous dormez-	you sleep, are sleeping-
ils, elles dorment-	they sleep, are sleeping-

The following chart contains four more irregular I R verbs. Notice that the singular forms are pronounced the same in each of the following verb conjugations even though the spelling is different. In the plural, the final consonant of the stem derived from the infinitive is pronounced. Try to hear the [t] sound in the plural forms of sortir, partir, and mentir, and the [v] sound in the plural forms of servir.

Listen carefully as your screen reader pronounces each verb form.

Subject Pronoun-	Mentir-	Sortir-	Servir-	Partir-
Je-	mens-	sors-	sers-	pars-
Tu-	mens-	sors-	sers-	pars-
Il, elle, on-	ment-	sort-	sert-	part-
Nous-	mentons-	sortons-	servons-	partons-
Vous-	mentez-	sortez-	servez-	partez-
Ils, elles-	mentent-	sortent-	servent-	partent-

When you have learned the present tense of the verb mentir, you should be able to conjugate sentir (to smell) and se sentir (to feel), and the conjugation of the verb s'endormir (to fall asleep) is very similar to the present tense of dormir.