The use of the word: comprendre

I would appreciate help with this, as I can't move on until I understand (!) it.

Why is it "comprends" in " Je ne comprends jamais pourquoi"? but "comprendre" in " Je ne peux jamais comprendre" ?

I thought both would be "comprends", as they both start " Je ne........"

Thank you for an explanation.

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cann on May 16, 2011 at 10:52pm

Hi Graham,

Comprendre is the infinitive of the verb, which correctly comes after 'je ne peux jamais....' I can never understand. When you put that extra bit, je ne peux jamais.... it takes the infinitive afterwards. But 'je comprends' is the first person singular, when you just say 'I understand' (or je ne comprends jamais, in the above sentence!).

Hope this explains things for you! Jackie

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Permalink Reply by graham salmon on May 18, 2011 at 8:35pm

Jackie,

Thank you for the answer. It is becoming clearer now.

Best wishes

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EducatorPermalink Reply by stu harris on May 17, 2011 at 12:01am

We have compound verbs in English, too, that are constructed with the infinitive:

I like TO swim

I want TO learn French

I hope TO travel

It's just a kink that we don't say I can TO understand. One of those things that we do to confuse people learning our language.

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Permalink Reply by Dai Lewis on May 18, 2011 at 11:12pm

in french the subject pronoun i.e. je makes the verb it immediately precedes agree with it, i.e. the verb conjugates, pouvoir becomes peux. The next verb that comes immediately after the first verb is always in the infinitive (unchanged form) comprendre.