Appendix:Old French verbs

The Old French language is an extinct Romance language spoken from roughly 824 - 1400. It derived from Vulgar and Medieval Latin. Much like modern French and other modern Romance languages, the four principal Latin conjugations became three. Old French was a series of dialects and varied much more from region to region than modern French does, so the rules given here are very general, as it would be impractical to try to include all the regional variations in one appendix.

First conjugation

First conjugation verbs mainly are derived from Latin first conjugation ones. The -are ending of Latin infinitives becomes -er as it does in modern French.

• Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

   Conjugation of chanter (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		chanter			avoir chanté, chantez
gerund		en chantant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		chantant
past participle		chanté, chantez
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jeo, jou	tu	il	nos, nous	vos, vous	ils
simple tenses	present	chante, chant	chantes, chants	chante, chant	chantons	chantez, chantés	chantent
	imperfect	chantoe, chanteie, chantoie	chantoes, chanteies, chantoies	chantot, chanteit, chantoit	chantions, chantiions	chantiez, chantiiez	chantoent, chantient, chantoient
	past historic	chantai	chantas	chanta	chantames	chantastes	chanterent
	future	chanterai	chanteras	chantera	chanterons	chanterez, chantereiz	chanteront
	conditional	chanteroe, chantereie, chanteroie	chanteroes, chantereies, chanteroies	chanterot, chantereie, chanteroie	chanterions, chanteriions	chanteriez, chanteriiez	chanteroent, chantereient, chanteroient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que jeo, jou	que tu	qu’il	que nos, nous	que vos, vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	chante, chant	chantes, chants	chante, chant	chantons	chantez	chantent
	imperfect	chantasse	chantasses	chantast	chantissons	chantissez, chantissiez	chantassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos, nous	vos, vous	–
		—	chante	—	chantons	chantez	—

Second conjugation

Second conjugation verbs mainly are descended from the fourth conjugation in Latin. The -ire ending of Latin infinitives becomes -ir, as it does in modern French, as well as many other Romance languages.

• Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

   Conjugation of partir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		partir			estre parti
gerund		en partant			Use the gerund of estre followed by the past participle
present participle		partant
past participle		parti
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jeo, jou	tu	il	nos, nous	vos, vous	ils
simple tenses	present	part	parz	parte	partons	partez, partés	partent
	imperfect	partois	partois	partoit	partions	partiez	partoient
	past historic	partis	partis	partit	partismes	partistes	partirent
	future	partirai	partiras	partira	partirons	partireiz	partiront
	conditional	partiroie	partiroies	partiroie	partirions	partiriez, partiriiez	partiroient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of estre followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of estre followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the past historic tense of estre followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of estre followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of estre followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que jeo, jou	que tu	qu’il	que nos, nous	que vos, vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	parte	partes	parte	partons	partez	parte
	imperfect	partisse	partisses	partisse	partissons	partissez, partisseiz	partissent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of estre followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of estre followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos, nous	vos, vous	–
		—	parz	—	partons	partez	—

Third conjugation

The third conjugation, as in modern French, is made up of all the verbs that do not fit into the first and second conjugation. Therefore, there is no consistent conjugation.

Infinitives

Old French often has more than one infinitive for the same verb. That is, more than one infinitive with the same conjugation. For first conjugation verbs, this often means -er and -ier forms being interchangeable, such as aprocher or aprochier, or cuider or cuidier. There are a few instances of third conjugation verbs with varying infinitives:

• plaire or plaisir
• remanoir or remaindre
• decevoir or deçoivre
• recevoir or reçoivre
• coure or corir

Agreement of the past participle

Unlike in modern French, the past participle can agree even when it comes after the direct object:

• Dit: « Amis, or vent Kaherdin. Sa nef ai veüe en la mer. » (Tristan, Thomas of Britain)

• (Modern French) Elle dit « Ami, Kaherdin arrive. J'ai vu son bateau sur la mer. »
• (English) She says, "Friend, Kaherdin is coming. I have seen her boat on the sea."

veüe is the feminine singular form of the past participle of veoir. In modern French, vu does not agree with bateau (or nef, which still exists but is archaic).

See also

• Appendix:French verbs
• Appendix:Latin verbs

References

• Petite Grammaire de l’ancien français, XII^e - XIII^e siècles - Ed Faral, Éditions Hachette (1943), ISBN 2.01.002541.5
• Histoire de la langue française, Jacques Leclerc, available on the website of the Laval University, Quebec.