3.13 Irregular verbs V — ouvrir, courir, mourir, naître — Epoché
What you will be able to do Conjugate ouvrir , which ends in -ir but takes the endings of parler in the present, and the verbs like it: offrir , découvrir , souffrir , couvrir . Conjugate courir and mourir , and pronounce the double r of their futures. Conjugate naître , and say I was born , which French puts in the perfect with être : je suis né . Read il est mort correctly as either he died or he is dead . Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Mon cœur souffre pour ces enfants qui meurent de faim. [1] My heart aches for those starving children. Nous avons découvert qu'il était mort depuis trois ans. [2] We found out that he had been dead for three years. Après ta mort, tu seras ce que tu étais avant ta naissance. [3] After your death you will be what you were before your birth. Vous m’avez donné naissance. [4] You've given birth to me. Vous m'avez fait souffrir. [5] You've made me suffer. Comment ouvrons-nous cette porte ? [6] How do we open this door? Vous avez assez souffert. [7] You've suffered enough. Comment avez-vous découvert cela ? [8] How did you discover that? Prerequisites : 3.12 — the last of the three lessons of irregular verbs, after 3.12 Conjugation . You need the perfect with être from 3.9 Conjugation , because two of these verbs take it. The last four verbs of the group have less in common with one another than the earlier sets, but each teaches something you will need everywhere. Ouvrir shows that the infinitive ending does not always tell you the conjugation. Courir and mourir have futures in which a doubled r is actually pronounced double. And mourir and naître , the verbs of the beginning and end of life, take être in the compound tenses, which makes their perfect behave in a way that English translates with a passive or an adjective. Table Person ouvrir , to open · courir , to run 1 sg j'ouvre · je cours 2 sg tu ouvres · tu cours 3 sg il ouvre · il court 1 pl nous ouvrons · nous courons 2 pl vous ouvrez · vous courez 3 pl ils ouvrent · ils courent Person mourir , to die · naître , to be born 1 sg je meurs · je nais 2 sg tu meurs · tu nais 3 sg il meurt · il naît 1 pl nous mourons · nous naissons 2 pl vous mourez · vous naissez 3 pl ils meurent · ils naissent Verb Auxiliary and participle · imperfect · future · subjunctive ouvrir j'ai ouvert · j'ouvrais · j'ouvrirai · que j'ouvre courir j'ai couru · je courais · je courrai · que je coure mourir je suis mort · je mourais · je mourrai · que je meure naître je suis né · je naissais · je naîtrai · que je naisse All the forms in these tables were written for this lesson as paradigms. The present of naître is rare in speech, because people are born once and talk about it in the past; you need it mainly for reading. How to read the endings Ouvrir wears the endings of parler . J'ouvre , tu ouvres , il ouvre : these are first-group endings on an -ir verb. The same is true of the whole family, offrir , couvrir , découvrir , souffrir , and even of the imperative: ouvre , with no s , exactly like parle . Their participles end in -ert : ouvert , offert , couvert , découvert , souffert . The future of courir and mourir has a real double r . Je courrai and je mourrai lose the i of the infinitive, so two r meet. In careful speech both are heard. The length matters most in the conditional: je courrais , I would run , and the imperfect je courais , I was running , differ in spelling only by that r , and in sound only by its length. French spelling usually doubles letters without changing the sound; this is one of the few places where the double letter is pronounced. Mourir changes its vowel. Meur- where the stem is stressed, in the singular and in ils meurent ; mour- where the ending is stressed, in nous mourons and vous mourez . The subjunctive follows the same pattern: que je meure , que nous mourions . Naître keeps its circumflex before t . Il naît , je naîtrai ; in the plural and the imperfect the stem is naiss- : nous naissons , je naissais , and the noun la naissance . Connaître and paraître work the same way. The 1990 spelling reform allows the circumflex to be dropped, il nait , and you will see both. In real sentences Ouvrir and its family French English J'ouvre la fenêtre. [9] I'm opening the window. Quand ouvrez-vous ? [10] When do you open? Ne l'ouvre pas. [11] Don't open it. J'ouvrirai la porte. [12] I will open the door. C'est ouvert. [13] It's open. Il m'a offert un cadeau. [14] He gave me a present. Qu'avez-vous découvert ? [15] What did you discover? Il souffre. [16] He's in pain. The third is a negative imperative, ne l'ouvre pas , with no s . The fifth uses the participle as an adjective: c'est ouvert , it's open . The sixth is offrir , which means to give as a present as well as to offer ; in French you offre a birthday present. The last is souffrir , which is everyday to be in pain , not only to suffer . Courir French English Il court. [17] He is running. Ils courent. [18] They are running. J’ai couru. [19] I ran. Il courait. [20] He ran. Je cours , il court and ils courent all sound the same, with the r heard in each: unlike boivent , the plural adds no consonant. Only nous courons and vous courez sound different. The last row, il courait , is the imperfect: its short gloss he ran stands for he was running or he used to run , while j'ai couru is the single event. Do not confuse il court , he runs , with the adjective court , short , or the noun un cours , a class : all three sound the same. Mourir French English Je meurs. [21] I'm dying. Ne mourez pas ! [22] Don't die. Je mourrai. [23] I'll die. Il est mort. [24] He's dead. Qui est mort ? [25] Who died? Je veux qu'il meure. [26] I want him to die. The fourth and fifth show the double life of mort . Il est mort is the perfect of mourir , he died , and it is also être with the adjective mort , he is dead . The gloss of the fourth chose the second reading, the gloss of the fifth, qui