Customer Reviews

501 French Verbs (Barron's 501 French Verbs)

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you could only buy one French reference book, buy a good French dictionary. If you could buy two, buy this 501 French Verbs. It is a well-known theory among linguists that verbs are the backbone of any language. If you don't know a noun, fine...look it up. Verbs, however, change forms easily. They're unpredictable, hard to understand, difficult to construct. Did you forget if "sortir" conjugates like "dormir" or like "finir"? What about the the subjunctive of "faire"? There is only one solution for navigating through this jungle of verbs...501 French Verbs!

In this easy-to-understand, easy-to-use book, all your verb questions are instantly answered. In addition to fully conjugating every verb in every tense and mood, there are idioms with each verb (such as "faire des achats" under "faire"). There are quizzes in the back, as well as useful verbs and sentences for many different situations (such as "at the grocery store", or "at the hotel").

If you consider yourself a student of French at all, whether a seasoned expert (such as myself, who still uses this book every day) or just learning "etre", this book is one to keep on your shelf.

As an adult studying French, I find this nicely sized trade style paperback indispensable for its sheer simplicity. Verb are listed alphabetically and lookup is easily fascilitated with the appearance of the verb on the left or right upper corners respectively. A page is devoted to each verb, with all of the tenses conviently arranged for reading ease. On the bottom of the page, the author cites some sentence and idiomatic sentence examples as well as a small list of verbs that take on similiar properties. The back of the book is devoted to an English-French and French-English Glossary list as well as idiomatic usage of the verbs and specific situation topics like "talking about the weather" or "buying a train ticket".

My one complaint about this series is the lack of English translation especially for tricky verbs like savoir, pouvoir, vouloir and devoir which when conjugated in the different tenses take on different meanings in English. More explanation should be devoted to these verbs, perhaps in the form of further examples. I think it would suffice if English translations of the all tenses of the verbs were simply listed next to their French counterparts. The author does discuss each of the tenses at length in the front part of the book, but for quick look-up purposes, this does not work well.

I have studied French for over six years and I am putting in an order for this book -- for the third time.

This is the best verb compilation of verb conjugation charts I have come across. Each verb is completely conjugated into all 14 tenses in French. For those just learning French the book has detailed explanation of when and how each conjugation is used.

The appendices are just as valuable as the conjugation charts and include idiomatic expressions, and which infintives are preceded with à and de.

It is a bit pricy (that's why it is rated 4 stars instead of 5), but is still a wise investment for the serious student of French.

If you're learning French then you probably know how difficult it is to conjugate the French verbs, and thus you'll feel the need for this book. But if you're about to learn French then take my word, it's going to be very difficult to survive without having a conjugation reference.

For that purpose, this book is a great choice! As the title says, it has 501 verbs fully conjugated. The verbs are sorted in an alphabetical order. Every verb has a whole page to it where it shows its English translation, and all its possible conjugations. The book starts with a few pages explaining the conjugations and some rules about their usages. Very helpful.

My only complaints about this book are that it's very difficult to reach a verb if you know its English meaning only. I wish that there was an index somewhere with the verbs sorted by there English translations instead of having to go through all the verbs to find what you're looking for. And that the print quality is not that good.

In summary, this book serves the purpose and then some! I highly recommend it. But hey, don't expect that you'll learn French out of this book! It serves as a reference only, not as a learning tool!

I cannot in good conscience give this book anything less than five stars because I've become totally dependant on it in the year since I bought it. It actually has more than 501 verbs available because there are pages and pages of additional verbs in the handy index provided. Every page has not only every possible conjugation (14 in all! How DO native speakers manage, Mon Dieu!) but common expressions as well! Soooooooo handy. I have learned tons from this book simply in passing, by often stopping to read a random entry when I meant to look up something else entirely.

However, there are some drawbacks -- for one thing, the writers waste several of the 501 entries with verbs that are really just compunds of other verbs -- why bother with "permettre" and "promettre" for instance, when they are both conjugated EXACTLY like "mettre"? Likewise with "aller" vs. "s'en aller" or "venir" vs. "devenir" or even "convaincre" vs. "vaincre" -- just remember to add the new beginning and you're good to go, yo.

Also, I've found over a half dozen verbs that don't appear anywhere in the book, which meant I had to guess at their conjugations. Quelle dommage!

The final drawback is the book's layout/setup. The cover of the fifth edition brags that it now has a "two-color layout." Well whoopee, but more colors wouldn't have killed them, particularly in the appendices, where all the bold entries seems to blend and blur together. It also wouldn't have killed them to spring for some thumbholds or maybe color-coded page edges so that you can flip to the section of the book you need with greater ease. I would have considered the extra fifty cents or whatever that added to the cover price money WELL spent.

Don't be deterred by these mostly minor gripes though -- this book is a must-have for any serious French-as-a-second-(or 3rd or 4th or what have you)-language student who doesn't happen to possess a photgraphic memory or an off-the-charts IQ. It can only help you, trust me. Matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it could even be of help to native speakers -- after all, who could *possibly* remember the passe anterieur of "reparaitre" off the top of her head???

I don't understand why 501 French Verbs is so popular in the States. One reason I can think of is that the other verb tables are not so widely available. It is expensive. I have my students order Collin-Gem French Verb Tables or Barron's French Verb in group on Amazon.com. 501 is so big and heavy that it is inconvenient to bring to class. It is 50% more expensive than the other two verb tables. You will never need 501 verbs-- you just need 100-200 and a good index. There are not that many irregular verbs in French anyway. 501 is a paperback too... Barron's table has a nice plastic cover... Check out others before you buy this one.

501 French Verbs is a fine thick book filled with verb conjugations, and it is a required text in a lot of departments -- but there is a more physically compact book from the same author and publisher that you might wish to consider instead, entitled simply "French Verbs."

Nobody buys a book like this to read for fun, after all. It is a list for you to memorize, to EAT. So smaller is maybe a little more manageable.

The smaller Barron's book, French Verbs, offers 301 verbs, so it is 200 verbs lighter and will fit in your jacket pocket. This means you can actually use it on the street in Paris, read it on the train or bus, pull it out of the glove compartment, etc. I use it to practice a few conjugations while commuting. I work through a couple a verbs a day. (Many more and your mind melts.)

At the back of the book is an indexed list of 1000 french verbs, each keyed to a page in this book. Lots of verbs you don't use every day are referenced here, if you happen to need them. The verb To Whisper, which is "Chuchoter," we learn from this index, is conjugated exactly like the more familiar verb "ajouter," which is fully conjugated on page 11. It nets out that you get 1000 verbs in a compact, pocket sized book that will travel with you.

One of my French teachers pointed out, in the early going, that "You don't need 500 verbs. You need 50." He was absolutely right. If you think about that basics of human activity, what do we actually do? We come, we go, we do, we be, we have, we take, and so on. Most basic ideas that must be communicated about this states and activities can be handled within the working range of just 50 verbs.

As a novice, what you need most is quick access to those 50. Another argument for a short, lite presentation.

So get the 501 if it is required, but consider the smaller book either as an alternative or as a portable adjunct.

Lastly, I wouldn't look to either of these book for a clear explanation of verb grammer. For the nightmare of the subjunctive mode, for example, try French Reference Grammar or (more coherent, less comprehensive) Ultimate French Review.

I am preparing to begin my third year of French, and this book was a recommended purchase. I really like it because there's really more than 501 verbs. (At the bottom of the page, you will see some derivatives and expressions related to the verb.) I really like studying French verbs, so with a little time, I will be able to learn several new tenses. This book is well worth the price for its completeness.

A must-have for learning French, but this book will invariably be used forever. Can any non-native speaker ever learn the language so well that he or she will never need help conjugating? This book may only have 501 verbs, but verbs not included are referenced as to which included verb is conjugated similarly. I've never encountered a verb not mentioned in this book somewhere.

Tours, France. They are known for speaking the purest French in the world there, and I was there to study at L'Institut de Touraine. I packed this book instead of an extra pair of shoes---who cares about shoes when you can find an orderly conjugation of just about every verb in French. My French family thought it an enjoyable game to quiz each other after dinner on the more unused tenses of the more obscure French verbs..."Good times and noodle salad"

Anyway...for those curious about the format. It lists in alphabetical order the most used 501 verbs, conjugating them fully into every tense, participle, command, etc. It lists, at the bottom, idiomatic expressions that include the verb. However, if the verb for which you cherches isn't written out, it is most likely listed in the index--and beside it is the verb that functions the same way. Highly suggest that any serious French student buy it--saves a lot of time and I am shocked it doesn't cost more!