Practice some of the vocabulary from this song and its stem-changing and irregular verbs using these flashcards, games and exercises.

Did you miss the analysis for this song? Find it here!

Activities

Vocabulary Excercises

We have chosen 20 terms out of this song’s lyrics to form our vocabulary list, which can be found below. You can use the following activities to learn and practice this vocabulary.

Vocabulary Flashcards – Learn the vocabulary from this song with our sets of French to English and English to French flashcards, then test yourself with our interactive flashcards.

Vocabulary Games – Practice the vocabulary for this song using our memory and matching games and our word search puzzle.

Vocabulary Exercises – Fill in the missing vocabulary with drag and drop and fill in the blanks exercises.

Grammar Exercises

This song really doesn’t give much grammatically to be practiced, however, there are a few stem-changing verbs. We’ve also thrown in the other irregular present tense verbs for practice. A refresher of the stem-changing verbs and conjugations of all these verbs can be found below. You can use the following activities to learn and practice these verbs.

Stem-Changing and Irregular Verb Flashcards – Practice the stem-changing and irregular verbs in this song with our sets of French to English and English to French flashcards, then test yourself with our interactive flashcards.

Stem-Changing and Irregular Verb Games – Practice the stem-changing and irregular verbs in this song using our memory and matching games.

Stem-Changing and Irregular Verb Exercies – Practice the stem-changing and irregular verbs in this song using our drag and drop, fill in, and highlighting exercises.

Resources

Vocabulary List

Term	Meaning	P of S	Context
abîmé	damaged, ruined	adj	abîmée
aller-retour	round trip	masc noun	aller-rеtour
arriver	to arrive; come, reach; happen; get closer approach	reg verb	arrive
asséner	to deal, give; strike with, hit with	stm chg verb	assène
au fond de	deep in, in the depths of; at the end/back/bottom of	masc noun	fond
dernier souffle	dying breath, final breath, last breath	masc noun	souffle
desceller	loosen, detach, work free; unseal	reg verb	descelles
essentiel	main thing, most important thing; essentials	masc noun	essentiel
étourdi	absent minded; dazed, stunned; giddy; scatterbrained	adj	étourdi
interpeller	call out to, shout at; stop, question, arrest; call to mind, remind	reg verb	interpelle
ouvrir	to open	irreg verb	ouvre
rebelle	rebellious, rebel; persistent, stubborn	adj	rebelle
receler	receive; contain, hold	stm chg verb	recèle
scène	catch; hold on to, hold back	irreg verb	retiennent
s’engager	to commit oneself	spl chg verb	engages
scène	stage, scene	fem noun	scène
se préserver	protect oneself	reg verb	me préserver
semer	sow; scatter, sprinkle; leave behind	stm chg verb	sèmes
sublime	sublime, magnificent; noble	adj	sublime
ticket	ticket	masc noun	ticket

Stem-Changing and Irregular Verbs

Stem-Changing Verbs

Some French verbs require changes to the verb stem during conjugation, depending on the subject of the verb. These changes happen exclusively to ‘-er’ verbs, and the normal ‘-er’ verb endings are still used. There are four groups of stem-changing verbs, though we only see examples of the first two types in this song. The groups are:

• All verbs that end in ‘-é_er’ change the ‘é’ to ‘è’
• Most verbs that end in ‘-e_er’ change the second to last ‘e’ to è
• Some verbs that end in ‘-eler’ and ‘-eter’ double the ‘l’ or ‘t’ instead of adding the accent grave
• Verbs that end in ‘-ayer’, ‘-oyer’, or ‘-uyer’ change the ý’ to an ‘i’

These stem changes apply to all present tense conjugations other than the ‘nous’ and ‘vous’ forms. Stem-changing verbs are also called boot verbs, due to the shape drawn around the conjugated verbs in table form, as shown below with the verb ‘asséner’, which takes an ‘é’ to ‘è’ stem change.

Conjugations

The following charts show the full present tense conjugations of the stem-changing and irregular verbs found in this song.

asséner* = to deal, give; strike with, hit with

	Singular	Plural
First person	j’assène	nous assénons
Second person	tu assènes	vous assénez
Third person	il/elle/on assène	ils/elles assènent

receler* = receive; contain, hold

	Singular	Plural
First person	je recèle	nous recelons
Second person	tu recèles	vous recelez
Third person	il/elle/on recèle	ils/elles recèlent

semer = sow; scatter, sprinkle; leave behind

	Singular	Plural
First person	je sème	nous semons
Second person	tu sèmes	vous semez
Third person	il/elle/on sème	ils/elles sèment

avoir = to have

	Singular	Plural
First person	j’ai	nous avons
Second person	tu as	vous avez
Third person	il/elle/on a	ils/elles ont

être = to be

	Singular	Plural
First person	je suis	nous sommes
Second person	tu es	vous êtes
Third person	il/elle/on est	ils/elles sont

tenir = to hold, hold onto; to manage; to conrol; to stand; continue, last

	Singular	Plural
First person	je tiens	nous tenons
Second person	tu tiens	vous tenez
Third person	il/elle/on tient	ils/elles tiennent

retenir = catch; hold on to, hold back

	Singular	Plural
First person	je retiens	nous retenons
Second person	tu retiens	vous retenez
Third person	il/elle/on retient	ils/elles retiennent

courir = to run; go around, circulate; rush, hurry

	Singular	Plural
First person	je cours	nous courons
Second person	tu cours	vous courez
Third person	il/elle/on court	ils/elles courent

ouvrir = to open

	Singular	Plural
First person	j’ouvre	nous ouvrons
Second person	tu ouvres	vous ouvrez
Third person	il/elle/on ouvre	ils/elles ouvrent