# FR: Usage of multiple verbs



## xxmaddisonxx

Just a quick question I imagine

Je veux manger : is  ' I want to eat', which of course is the correct usage of the infinitive.

However I have read on the internet that in french only the first verb is conjugated and the rest are left in their infinitive form. For instance. 'Je voudrais aller  et je veux manger'

So if my source on the internet is correct 'je veux' should be 'vouloir'. Right?

I have tried to find a solution to this myself but all I can find is information about the infinitive.

Any ideas?

Thanks 

xxmaddisonxx

ps. My apologies if the French isn't the greatest.


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## Areyou Crazy

yes i expect 'je voudrais aller manger' though...
You have repeatred the subject 'je' twice and its not necessary


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## xxmaddisonxx

SO you are saying that....

'Je voudrais aller et veux manger' is correct

Sorry..


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## Areyou Crazy

no i am not saying that  !
in france if they want to use 2 verbs together , for 2 actions which are intrinsically linked they dont use 'and' to join the two i dont know why though
'je voudrais voir'
je vais cuisiner'

+++ the rule about the second verb being infinitive isnt true for every situation
you can have 'il a été vaincu '  for 'he has been beaten' just like in English past participle with the auxilairy


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## xxmaddisonxx

aaaah I think im beggining to catch on 

'je voudrais voir'= I want to see
je vais cuisiner'= I want to cook/eat ect

Although I may have not wrote my question in an understandable way

What I was getting at is what would happen with sentences with multiple verbs and clauses. For instance.

I want to go and see the band because I am a fan
Verb + Infinitive + Verb + noun+connective+verb+noun

SO what i was asking is obviously the 'I want' is conjugated, and 'to go' is left in the infinitive as with any other language. But the 'see' and ' I am' , are they left as 'to see' and 'to be' or are they conjugated???

Hope that makes me a little clearer and sorry if I seem a little slow

xxmaddisonxx


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## jann

> SO what i was asking is obviously the 'I want' is conjugated, and 'to go' is left in the infinitive as with any other language. But the 'see' and ' I am' , are they left as 'to see' and 'to be' or are they conjugated???


_Je voudrais aller voir le groupe parce que je suis un fan._
I would like to go [and] see the band because I am a fan.

Within a single clause when the verbs all have the same subject, you only need to conjugate the first one:  _je voudrais aller voir   _By the way, notice how in English, the word "and" is totally unnecessary.  Some people would probably say you would do better to leave it out: I would like to go see...

Now if you start a new clause (in this case, withthe word "because"), or if you change/repeat the subject pronoun (notice how you repeated the word "I" by saying "I am a fan")... well then you must of course conjugate the verb that goes with this subject, even if there is a conjugated verb earlier in the sentence.  That's why "I am a fan" is conjugated.

So you can say that the rule only applies to clauses (not entire sentences) that have a single grammatical subject.

I hope that helps.


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## catinhat

*erased incorrect info*


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## Maître Capello

jann said:


> By the way, notice how in English, the word "and" is totally unnecessary.  Some people would probably say you would do better to leave it out: I would like to go see...


But wouldn't _go *and* open the door_ be better than _go open the door_? (the latter would be heard as ‘_gopen the door_’)


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## jann

> But wouldn't _go *and* open the door_ be better than _go open the door_? (the latter would be heard as ‘_gopen the door_’)


My gut reaction is that "go and open" is slightly colloquial.  Others will surely correct me if I am wrong.  

We are not so put off by the hiatus in English as you are in French: the pronunciation of "go open" is NOT identical to the hypothetical word "gopen."  "Go open" has variously a doubly-long "o," a space between the words, or a little trip in the middle of the vowel (perhaps in the form of a "w" sound such as at the beginning of the French word _moi_) to indicate that there are in fact two words.


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## dicomec

I agree that go open is fine, except that go and open is easier to say and makes your speech clearer.


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## Areyou Crazy

'go open 'would be considered lazy in British English
Lots of people however say 'i been shops' which would be considered incorrect even if we know what they mean


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## Darco

Hello,


> +++ the rule about the second verb being infinitive isnt true for every situation


Pardon me but the rule is true, however, the 2 auxilairies do not count as verbs.

Pour "gopen" ça me fait penser aux mots-valises de Finkielkraut
Contraction de 2 mots pour n'en former qu'un.
ex: *Délicaresse *: étreinte très douce.
*Tactic *: ensemble des moyens et des ruses mis en oeuvre pour remonter le temps.
*Franglais* : mixage of the two langages.

Sinon, how do you say 'i been shops'  in english ?


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## Areyou Crazy

je voulais dire que chaque fois en francais qu'il y a un verb conjuge il est pas forcement suivi par un verbe à l'infinitif (peut c'est evident mais pas pour nous qui etudions le francais)
ex *ils sont failli été mangées 
*bien sur cest le passif
*i been shops *in english is a mistake but it is heard by young people all the time


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## Darco

Ils ont failli *être* mangés ?
ont : auxiliaire ( ne compte pas )
failli : 1er verbe
être : 2e -> infinitif

Ils ont failli mang*er*.
Ils sont partis se repos*er*.
Ils sont venus me voi*r*.
...


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## Areyou Crazy

puis comment dire ca au passif? peut etre je me trompe mais 
c'etait un francais qui m'a dit qu il faut pas ecrire 'ils ont failli pas etre mangées' dans cette expression là
mais je ne connais qu' un peu du français

moi je pensais que 'ils ont failli etre mangées '   c'etait plus logique , comme j'aurais pu venir(infinitif) §§I could have come(p.p)
en toute façon
*+++il faut que je sache++
*ok c'est le subjoncif mais pour nous on utilise pas le subjonctif meme s'il exist
tout le monde surtout en angletrere sait pas il existe!


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## Darco

'ils ont failli pas etre mangés'  je ne comprends pas ce que ça veut dire.

'les haricots ont failli être mangés' : beans have been almost eaten (?) c'est le passif de :
j'ai mangé les haricots : I ate the beans (?)

ça serait sympa si tu rectifiais mon anglais, aussi


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## bloomiegirl

Le type français avait raison :  il *ne* faut pas *é*crire 'ils ont failli pas etre mangées" . 
Il vaut mieux écrire : "ils ont failli *ê*tre mangés" [au masculin] .


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## Canaveral

The rule that's been taught for decades (maybe centurys) to the french kids is:

*Quand deux verbes se suivent, le deuxième se met à l'infinitif.

*There is no exception.


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## Areyou Crazy

OK I have found an example. I'm sure someone will prove that it's an exception  but I have found a phrase which is as follows:
*Merci pour m'avoir écrit 
contente d'etre reçu

*I know it's probably a *gerondif *gerund or something but I am trying to prove that in French the second verb in a construction isn't always an infinitive where the first verb is an infinitive! OF course in English you would say ' thankyou for having written to me'


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## Maître Capello

Areyou Crazy said:


> _Merci de m'avoir écrit
> content d'être reçu / __ contente d'être reçue_


In the 1st example _avoir écrit_ is a *past* infinitive.
In the 2nd example _être reçu_ is a *passive* infinitive.


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## Areyou Crazy

maitre 
Merci *de* m'avoir corrigé ! (je pensais *pour m'avoir* etait possible)
Bien sur tu as raison. Je dirais que un infinitif passif c'est quand meme un infinitif , et donc il n'est pas forcement le cas qu' un infinitif est toujours suivi par un infinitif. Je comprends que tu as raison bien sur, pourtant je dis toujours que ce n'est pas toujours le cas qu' un infinitif est toujours suivi par un autre!

pour le mot *etre *je ne peux pas trouver le clé pour l'accent circonflexe ou le chapeau)


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