<Li> (pronoun before the auxiliary) Il y avait deux baleines . Claire les a vues . ("There were two whales . Claire saw them .") </Li> <Li> (clause - initial wh - question element) Quelles baleines Claire a-t - elle vues? ("Which whales did Claire see?") </Li> <Li> (relative clause introduced by que) les deux baleines que Claire a vues ("the two whales that Claire saw") </Li> <Li> The above rule is one of the most difficult in French, and even native speakers have trouble with it, and ignore it in colloquial speech . Since, when spoken, for most verbs, the different forms sound the same (for example, vu vus vue vues "seen" are all pronounced / vy /, this is usually not noticeable . There are however, past participles like fait "done" and mis "put" whose feminine forms sound different when spoken, and only the most careful speakers will be heard applying the rule . </Li>

How many verbs are there in the french language