Mastering the Art of Conjugation: A Comprehensive Guide to ‘Join’ Verb Transformations

There are 7 verb modes in the French language. It’s important to know the rules of conjugation to avoid making mistakes, especially when sending your business emails. For verbs in the third group, it is appropriate to be more vigilant in view of their particularities. You want to know how correctly conjugate the verb to join, point out, add…? You’re at the right address.

Table des matières

The importance of knowing how to conjugate verbs well

When you were in CM1, your teacher probably already told you many times: “a sentence is made up of a subject, a verb and a complement”. This is not wrong, but there are some exceptions, such as certain indirect imperative or exclamatory sentences. However, they are rarely used, especially in the professional world (handwritten letter, etc.). Therefore, it is necessary to learn how to conjugate verbs correctly to be sure to form correct sentences, especially if you want to apply by email. By definition, it is a receiver of agreement, an essential word of the sentence which is intended to express a fact, a state, an action or an intention. So, it can come in different forms. L’set of variations of the verb constitutes its conjugation. They are made up of two distinct parts, namely:

The radical representing the part expressing the meaning of the verb;
The ending which is the portion indicating the tense, mode, number and person of the verb.

Conjugation, for its part, represents the different forms that the verb can take. According to the rules of the French language, it is applied to give indications on:

The tense of the verbs (present, past or future) to situate the action in time;
The mode of verbs (indicative, subjunctive, imperative conditional) based on nuance allowing the introduction of certainty, a wish or doubt in relation to the action;
The person (first, second or third person singular or plural) who gives details about who is doing the action of the verb;
The voice (passive, active or pronominal) allows you to specify whether the subject does or undergoes the action.

The morphology of verbs varies depending on the four points cited above. It is good to note that you do not have to learn the conjugation of all the verbs by heart. The most important thing is to know how to distinguish the stem and the ending, but also to memorize the endings as a whole.

The importance of knowing how to conjugate verbs well — Source: Alex Ragen / Shutterstock.com

Conjugation of the verb to join

You want to know how correctly conjugate the verb to join ? Before see examples of sentences or the conjugation of the word as such, it is appropriate to look at its general definition. This word is the synonym of “to stick, combine or unite”. It can also mean “to reach someone”, especially when you make a phone call, for example.

For information or reminder, this is a verb from the third group which is conjugated with the auxiliary avoir. Just like verbs that end in -aindre and -enseignement, it loses its “d” and takes a “t” when it is conjugated in the indicative mode. The rules to apply for the conjugation of the verb to join do not change. Indeed, as the radical is “joi”:

In the past participle, it ends with -nt in the masculine singular and -nte in the feminine singular. These two forms end with an -s in the plural;
In the present indicative, the stem of the verb to join ends with -ns, -ns, -nt, -gnons -gnez and -gnent;
In the imperfect, it ends with -gnais, -gnas, -gna, -gnions, -gniez and -gnait;
In the simple past, the stem of the verb to join ends with -gnis, -gnis, -gnit, -gnîmes, -gnîtes and -gnisent;
In the simple future, it ends with -ndrai, -ndras, -ndra, -ndrons, -ndrez and -ndront;
In the present conditional, it ends with -ndrais, -ndrais, -ndrait, -ndrions, -driez and -ndrait;
In the present subjunctive, the stem of the verb to join ends with -gne, -gnes, -gne, -gnions, -gniez and -gnent;
In the imperfect subjunctive, it ends with -gnisse, -gnisses, -gnît, -gnissions, -gnissiez and -gnisent
In the imperative, the stem of the verb to join ends with -ns, -gnons and -gnez;
In the present participle and the present gerund, it ends with -gnant.