Conjugués

Conjugués is a term used in linguistics to refer to the set of inflected forms a verb can take as a result of its conjugation. Each conjugués form encodes grammatical information such as person (first, second, third), number (singular, plural), tense, mood, aspect, and voice, and in some languages even evidentiality or polarity. Conjugation systems vary across languages; some mark many categories with distinct endings, while others rely on auxiliaries or relatively few inflections.

Conjugation can produce regular conjugués by applying predictable patterns to a verb stem, or irregular conjugués whose forms must be memorized. In Spanish, the present indicative forms of hablar are hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan; the preterite forms are hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron; and the imperfect forms are hablaba, hablabas, hablaba, hablábamos, hablabais, hablaban. Similar paradigms exist in other languages: French parler yields je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent.

Conjugués play a central role in subject-verb agreement and in marking time and modality, guiding syntax and meaning. They can be the target of phonological or historical change, leading to regularization or diversification of endings over time. In many languages, there are both simple and compound tenses, formed with auxiliary verbs plus participles. The term conjugués thus encompasses the broad set of verb forms that convey who is performing an action, when, and in what manner.