Reddit reviews Complete Guide to Conjugating 12000 French Verbs (English Edition)

Some months back, people recommended Bescherelle. I got one, and am happy with it. This thing is so widely used, it has become a common name for these sorts of things.

You need to get yourself a copy of the Bescherelle. This is the book that French students use in school, and is the authoritative book on verb conjugation. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Conjugating-French-English/dp/2218065916/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452133016&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=french+verb+conguation

The bad news is that French verb conjugation is very difficult. The good news is, once it "clicks" and you get it, you'll really be able to express yourself in the French language. Verb conjugation is in my opinion the primary key to the language.

The Bescherelle helps with this because it breaks verbs down into categories, based on verbs that are conjugated similarly, ir verbs, er verbs, irregular verbs etc. There's a pattern to be recognized, once you see it and get it, then it all falls into place.

So rather than try and address specific questions in your post, I'd recommend getting this and learning to recognize those patterns.

Years ago I taught first year and second year French at University as a grad student, and I broke with department rules and demanded that my students get that book. I was severely scolded for doing so, as my plan broke away from the standard course taught by other teachers, but at the end of my first year teaching, my students did consistently better than all the other classes, and even students that went on to study under other teachers said that they felt they had a better grasp on the patterns of language than other students.