French Verbs (Barron's Verb Series)

After taking French for six years in school, this was the only book I carried in my bag everyday to class. It weighs hardly anything at all, yet was so invaluable to my learning French.

French verb conjugation is not easy and has so many tenses, exceptions, and irregularities that the non-native speaker can easily go insane. In an easy-to-read chart format, the book details the conjugation of nearly all the verbs I ever came across (Over a thousand without a chart are listed in indexes with references to the 301 that are actually conjugated in the book).

Each verb also has an English translation, and occasional notes about similar sounding verbs with different meanings to prevent confusion between the two. Very useful!

I bought my French verb book while taking French in high school. I used it a lot then. When I minored in French in college, I still used it. In fact, the pages are warped, greasy, and little a torn from years of continuous use. I used to have the Spanish version of this book, but I sold because it wasn't as useful. Both books have the same format, but French verbs are much more difficult to conjugate. Every French student should have a copy of this book. There is also a French verb book called "501 French Verbs," but this one is much easier to carry around.


Brandon Simpson

I attended an intensive course in French language back in 1992 in Bordeaux, France. I purchased this reference book because of the great help the sister publication 501 German Verbs was for me when I studied in Germany in 1984. Barron's did not let me down. This publication can be a bit cumbersome at times because it doesn't really fit in anybody's pocket but it is a real help.

Verbs are listed in alphabetical order and similar words that are not conjugated are listed in the back of the book as a reference. If you are going to study or live abroad in a French speaking country I highly recommending you to purchase this book before you leave your home country.

Even at my beginning/intermediate level, many times I've gone to look up a verb in this book not to find it. I find it's a little too small. Its physical size would be an advantage if one had to carry it around, and it *is* fairly comprehensive if you consider that it has an appendix containing more verbs (which point to entries in the main body of the book that follow the same patterns). But looking up words in an appendix is pretty annoying. So, I'd give it 5 stars if you had to carry it around, and 4 stars if you didn't. Personally, I just have it sitting on my desk, so if I had the choice again, I'd go for the larger 501 Verbs version.

For those beginning and intermediate French learners, this conjugation book must be in your pocket anywhere anytime. It covers what troubles French learners but the French dictionary editors assume trival, i.e. an extensive list of conjugated verbs. This book comes in handy when doing internet chatting, email and other writing tasks which going over the conjugation process would make you very frustrated. In addition to the size, the price is also a bargain.