61 - How to Conjugate French Verb "Aimer" (Present Tense)

 
 

Know how to use the French verb “aimer” (to like/love) in the present tense? 💗 Listen to this lesson to find out! 🤓 I’ll also share examples.

If you’d prefer to listen on the go, listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Links & Cheat Sheet

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Bonjour à tous! Hi everyone! Welcome back to the French Made Easy Podcast! Thanks for joining me here! This is episode number 61, numero 61! 

So we're starting a new conjugation series on appreciation verbs. In the next few episodes, we're going to learn how to express your tastes and preferences - as in how to say what you love, like, dislike, hate, etc. 

So in today's episode, we're talking about the verb aimer, which means to love or to like. 

First, we'll talk about the difference between to like and to love. And then, we'll dive into the conjugation of the verb "aimer“ with plenty of examples. 

Before we start, as usual, make sure you download your lesson's cheat sheet; it's free. 
After the lesson, it's time to practice! Head over to the French Made Easy Library, where you can download your lesson's exercises.

Vous êtes prêts? Are you guys ready? On y va.

Alright, so, in French, we don't have a special verb for "like" and "love", it's the same verb: "aimer."

So you're going to tell me, "Ok, Mathilde, great -- how do we know when people say like or love?" Because that can make a pretty big difference!

Well, honestly, most of the time, it depends on the context. But as a beginner, to avoid any ambiguity and to make things simpler, what I recommend is to add the little adverb "bien." it means good or well, but don't worry about the translation, because it's not used as a word for word translation here.

Anyways, that's going to "weaken" the verb "aimer" from "love" to "like." By adding the adverb "bien", the verb aimer is going down from love to like. We can use other adverbs, but that's going to be for another lesson; for now, let's just keep it simple.

For example: 

  • (I love my husband:) “J'aime mon mari.”

  • (I like chocolate) “J'aime bien le chocolat.“ I've added the adverb "bien" to go from”love” to “like.”

Alright, hopefully that makes sense. Now let’s dive into the conjugation of aimer.

Répétez après moi, repeat after me:

  • j'aime (I like / I love)

  • tu aimes (you like/love) - And don't forget the silent "S."

  • il aime (he likes/loves)

  • elle aime (she likes/loves)

  • on aime (we like/love - informal)

  • nous aimons (we like/love - formal) Attention here, don't forget the liaison. And if you don't know what the liaison here, check out my course, French Pronunciation Made Easy! The link is in the description.

  • vous aimez (you like/love). The same goes here, don't forget the liaison.

  • ils aiment (they like/love - masculine)

  • elles aiment (they like/love - feminine)

Ok, parfait. 

Now let's see some examples of the French verb "aimer" conjugated in the present tense.

I'm also going to add the adverb "bien" to show you how to use it. And for fun, I'll add some negation too. So if you don't know how to use the negation, then go back to episode number 36. 

Again, repétez après moi: 

  • J'aime ma femme. (I love my wife.)

  • Tu aimes bien mon nouveau manteau? (Do you like my new coat?)

  • Il n'aime pas les brocolis. (He doesn't like broccoli.)

  • Elle aime bien lire. (She likes to read.)

  • On aime bien écouter de la musique. (We like to listen to music.)

  • Nous aimons nos enfants. (We love our kids.)

  • Vous aimez bien voyager? (Do you like to travel?).

  • Ils n'aiment pas prendre le train. (They don't like taking the train.)

  • Elles aiment bien le yoga. (They like yoga.)

Alright! That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget to go and download your lesson's exercises to practice what you've learned today. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd really appreciate a quick rating and review on Apple Podcast. 

À la semaine prochaine, talk to you next week. 

Merci beaucoup, et à bientôt!

NOTE:

For those who don’t know how to use the verb “aimer” with the negation:

  • je n’aime pas

  • tu n’aimes pas

  • il/elle/on n’aime pas

  • nous n’aimons pas

  • vous n’aimez pas

  • ils/elles n’aiment pas

 
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