Absolutely Essential, May 13, 2000

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.

A good survival tool :), June 19, 2003

Are you trying to learn french?. If so, this is one of the books you must have. Why? Simply because it makes your life easier.

This book doesn't explain why verbs are conjugated in a certain way, but it helps you to learn merely by showing how 501 french verbs are conjugated. Is that enough? Well, by itself no, because we are not parrots who must repeat whatever they are told without understanding what they say (that, despite the opinion of some, not all, french teachers). However, if you have a good textbook, a terrific dictionary, some listening tapes and "501 French Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses in a New Easy-To-Learn Format Alphabetically Arranged" (long title :)!!), you'll probably end up speaking french more or less well.

This edition is bilingual (french-english), so if you don't know the meaning of some verbs in french you'll still have the translation in english. Another thing worth pointing out is that each verb has lots of examples (with different tenses). I found out that to be particularly useful...

So, what to do?. If you can, buy this book, or ask a friend to lend it to you. It is not overly entertaining (as a matter of fact it is quite boring), but it helps you to deal with some of those awful verbs that sometimes make you wish for the nonexistence of the french language. On the whole, a good survival tool :)

Indispensable Quick Tool to Further Your French Skills, March 13, 2004

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.

Still excellent although check the alternatives too, December 9, 2003

French is one of the world's great languages, but it would be even greater if it weren't spoken by the French. :-) (Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist).

On a more serious note, this is one of the venerable 501 Verbs books that have become a staple of many students of foreign language. These are great books, and the layout of the tables is the easiest on the eye of all the verb books out there that I've seen.

That having been said, I have a preference for the 2000 Essential French Verbs volume over this one, although I don't like the layout and the design as much. The font is a little too small, for one thing, and the tables just aren't as aesthetic-looking as the 501 book.

However, one major advantage the 2000 Verbs book has is the long section after the verb tables discussing the grammar and usage for dozens of French verbs in much more detail than can be done on the verb table pages. Many more example sentences and of usage are included, along with practice exercises that are helpful too. The 501 Verbs books also contain several example sentences at the bottom of each page, but the 2000 Essential French Verbs book has many more.

The way the book works is that there are only tables for about 250 French verbs, but in the back is an index of 2000 French verbs keyed to the correct page for that verb pattern, and you just turn to that. That also saves paper and makes the book less thick and unwieldy than the 501 book although it actually is useful for many more verbs.

One thing the 501 book has, however, is a pretty good section on idiomatic uses of French verbs, and dozens of examples of sample conversations similar to the Berlitz models of using simulated conversations in practical situations.

So the 501 French Verbs book is still a great volume, however, although I could possibly do without the use of color over the earlier edition since I'm not sure it's not more of a distraction than a help, but it's okay. But I recommend checking out the 2000 Essential French Verbs book also because of its features, in case you find you prefer that.

An essential for french learning!, December 3, 2003

I would actually buy this book before I would buy a dictionary. This is the best reference book I've ever used for french! This book is completely indisposable. I've spoken french for years and there are verbs in there that I've never heard of!! It's absolutely great. I can't rave enough about it.

Great French Verb Learning Tool, September 17, 2003
Reviewer: A reader
I was being tutored by a girl who had this book. It is amazing for people who are in a french class, becuase you simply look up the verb, and all the conjugations are there! I love this book, and would recomend it to anyone!