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- "I like to eat."
"I like to eat."
Translation:J'aime manger.
33 Comments
I think in general, in French, if you have two verbs right after each other, only the first is conjugated to agree with the subject ( ie J'aime) while the second is usually infinitive (ie manger). Infinitive is considered to be the "basic" form of the verb, that does not indicate a specific tense or subject.
As others have mentioned, we often do the same in english: in English to + verb is sometimes also called an infinitive. We can see in the following sentences: I try to eat, He tries to eat, I tried to eat, the verb "to try" changes form in each sentence to match the subject and tense of the sentence. However, the verb "to eat" is NOT conjugated, and is the same in all three sentences, because it is comes second. The same logic, I believe, applies in French.
Manger is the verb you would find in the dictionary When placing a pronoun in front of an er verb (a verb ending in er), you take the "stem or root" verb and add on the necessary endings. Like for nous it becomes nous mangeons thus making the added part 'ons' but that is only for nous. All pronouns tu, vous etc have different endings. Er verbs are the most common in french but there is 'ir' and 're' verbs and they require new "endings"