CONJUGATION

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CONJUGATION. A PARADIGM, class, or table of VERB forms in such inflected languages as LATIN and FRENCH, where elements are distinguished from each other by patterns of INFLECTION, relating to tense, person, number. French has four regular conjugations, exemplified by parler to speak, finir to finish, recevoir to receive, vendre to sell. These verb classes conjugate differently, so that for example the perfect tense (for the first person singular) is respectively j'ai parlé, j'ai fini, j'ai reçu, j'ai vendu. The term is relevant to the grammar of Old English, in which there were seven conjugations of strong verbs, but not to Modern English, although irregular verbs can be divided into a number of pattern groups.

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