Verb haïr
Haïr (to hate) and amuïr (to amuir) are the only verbs with this ending. Their particularity is to take an umlaut on the i in all its conjugation, except in the three person singular of the present tense of the indicative, and in the second person singular of the imperative. The circumflex accent in the simple past tense is eliminated by the umlaut as well as in the imperfect subjunctive. Apart from the context, there is no distinction between these two tenses.
To remember its exception, we can start with the sound. In the present tense, the sound ai is pronounced as in a "haie" (hedge). On the other hand, as soon as there is an umlaut, we separate the a from the i and pronounce the two letters.
Finally, note that the h in this verb is sucked out. This means that one must say "je hais" and that it is not possible to replace the "je" by "j'".
Another verb to present this particularity is "amuïr" which means "to become mute", "to fade out of pronunciation"....
Conjugation of the verb "haïr" in the present tense
- je hais
- tu hais
- il hait
- nous haïssons
- vous haïssez
- ils haïssent