Susan has taught college-level French and has a PhD in French studies.
What a great opportunity: you're studying at a university in France this year. At a café, you've met a group of French students who love to study other languages, and everyone is sharing which languages they understand. You start out with the obvious, that you understand French! 'Je comprends' (I understand French; pronounced: zhuh kohm prahn) 'le français.' Then you turn to someone you just met and ask if he understands English: 'Vous comprenez' (pronounced: voo kohm pre nay) 'l'anglais?' To your pleasant surprise, he answers that he does understand English: 'Oui, je comprends l'anglais'. He points to Nadine and Jeanne at another table and says that they understand Italian: 'Elles comprennent' (prounounced: el kohm pren) 'l'italien'.
Did you notice the forms of comprendre (pronounced: kohm prahn druh) that are used? Comprendre is the infinitive form of the verb, or the basic, generic form. When we use it with a pronoun such as je to say 'I understand,' we use the appropriate form, or conjugation: je comprends.
Let's take a look at the verb conjugation in the present tense for all the forms.
Here's the conjugation chart for comprendre:
| Subject Pronoun | Comprendre Conjugation | Pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | je comprends | (kohm prahn) | I understand |
| tu | tu comprends | (too kohm prahn) | you understand |
| il/elle/on | il/elle/on comprend | (eel/el/ohn kohm prahn) | he/she understands |
| nous | nous comprenons | (noo kohm preh nohn) | we understand |
| vous | vous comprenez | (voo kohm preh nay) | you understand |
| ils/elles | ils/elles comprennent | (eel/el kohm pren) | they understand |
The conjugation of this verb is not exactly the same as the other verbs that follow the pattern for verbs that also end in -re. Since this verb does not fit the normal pattern of verbs ending in -re, we call this an 'irregular' -re verb.
One thing you might have noticed is that the 'd', which is in the first three forms, is not used in the nous, vous, or ils/elles forms of the verb.
Let's get back to the group of students, and look at some more examples of comprendre.
Yves, a friend of yours, tells you that he and Jean studied in Germany, and they understand German: 'Nous comprenons l'allemand.' ('We understand German'.) Jean, who had a short stay in Spain, even understands Spanish: 'Il comprend l'espagnol aussi' ('He understands Spanish, too').
Just then, the server comes to the table and says something to you that the others didn't hear. So you turn to them and tell them that the server said it's time to pay the bill! 'Ah, tu comprends très bien le français!' ('You understand French really well!')
Here's a review with some sentences using comprendre, based on what we just went over:
The verb comprendre (kohm prahn druh) means 'to understand' in English. Its conjugation is considered irregular because it does not fits the pattern of other verbs ending in -re. Here's the chart for the basic conjugation in the present tense for comprendre:
| Subject Pronoun | Comprendre Conjugation |
|---|---|
| je | je comprends |
| tu | tu comprends |
| il/elle/on | il/elle/on comprend |
| nous | nous comprenons |
| vous | vous comprenez |
| ils/elles | ils/elles comprennent |
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