Lesson 3 of 6Les bases: Sounds, Nouns and the Present Tense
Unit 1 · Lesson 3 of 6
The Present Tense: Regular Verbs
The subject pronouns, and the three-step recipe (infinitive, stem, ending) that conjugates every regular -er, -ir and -re verb in the present tense — plus what the present can mean in English.
1Recipe: remove -er / -ir / -re to get the stem, then add the ending for the subject.
2-er: e, es, e, ons, ez, ent (je parle, nous parlons, ils parlent).
3-ir (finir type): is, is, it, issons, issez, issent (nous finissons, ils finissent).
4-re (vendre type): s, s, —, ons, ez, ent (il vend, ils vendent).
5One present tense covers 'I play', 'I am playing' and 'I do play'; never use être + verb for '-ing'.
6On takes the il form and often means 'we'; ils covers mixed groups.
In English, verbs barely change: I speak, you speak, we speak — only 'he speaks' adds an s. French verbs change their ending for almost every subject, so you cannot just look up a verb in the dictionary and drop it into a sentence. The good news is that most French verbs are regular: they follow one of three patterns, named after the last two letters of the infinitive (the 'to' form, such as parler, to speak). By far the biggest group is the -er verbs, which includes most new verbs that enter the language. Learn three sets of endings and you can conjugate thousands of verbs, including ones you have never seen.
Who is doing it: subject pronouns
French
English
Notes
je (j' before a vowel)
I
Not capitalized unless it starts the sentence: j'aime, j'habite
tu
you (one person you know well)
A friend, a family member, a child, a classmate
il / elle / on
he / she / one, we
On is used constantly in speech to mean 'we'
nous
we
More formal or written than on
vous
you (several people, or one person politely)
A group of friends, or one adult you don't know well
ils / elles
they
elles only for an all-female group; ils for all-male or mixed groups
On and ils are everyday words
On takes the same verb form as il: On regarde un film ce soir? (Are we watching a movie tonight?). And a group of ten women and one man is ils. Use elles only when every member of the group is female.
The recipe: infinitive, stem, ending
Find the group from the infinitive's ending: -er, -ir or -re.
Remove that ending to get the stem: parler → parl-, finir → fin-, vendre → vend-.
Add the ending that matches the subject, from the table below.
Check elision: je becomes j' before a vowel or silent h (j'écoute, j'habite).
Subject
parler (to speak)
finir (to finish)
vendre (to sell)
je
parle
finis
vends
tu
parles
finis
vends
il / elle / on
parle
finit
vend
nous
parlons
finissons
vendons
vous
parlez
finissez
vendez
ils / elles
parlent
finissent
vendent
Endings: -er = e, es, e, ons, ez, ent. -ir = is, is, it, issons, issez, issent. -re = s, s, (nothing), ons, ez, ent.
Fig 1Stem plus ending for the three regular groups, with the silent -er endings marked.
Why French never drops the subject
Say the -er forms aloud: parle, parles, parle, parlent all sound exactly the same, because final -s and -ent are silent. Only parlons and parlez sound different. Since the ending often cannot tell a listener who is speaking, the subject pronoun always has to be there. In -ir verbs, the -iss- in the plural is what you hear: il finit vs ils finissent.
Pick a regular verb and a subject, and watch the stem and ending combine into the present-tense form.
One French present, three English meanings
Je joue au soccer can mean 'I play soccer', 'I am playing soccer' or 'I do play soccer'. French has no separate '-ing' form, so never translate 'I am playing' word for word as je suis joue. The present with depuis also covers actions that started in the past and are still going on: J'habite à Sudbury depuis cinq ans (I have lived in Sudbury for five years).
Three traps
Not every -ir verb is like finir.Partir, sortir, dormir, venir and ouvrir are irregular: nous partons, never nous partissons. Verbs ending in -ger and -cer adjust their spelling for nous to keep the soft sound from Lesson 1: nous mangeons (the e keeps g soft) and nous commençons (the ç keeps c soft). Some verbs include the English preposition: attendre = to wait for, écouter = to listen to, regarder = to look at, chercher = to look for. Add no extra word: J'attends l'autobus, not J'attends pour l'autobus.
In context: an email about a summer job
Salut Inès! Cet été, je travaille dans un café à Toronto. J'adore ce travail! Le matin, ma collègue Maya et moi, nous remplissons les frigos et nous vendons des muffins et des smoothies. Les clients choisissent leurs boissons au comptoir. Quand un client attend trop longtemps, il perd patience… alors je réponds vite à ses questions. Le soir, je finis à dix-huit heures. Et toi, tu travailles cet été?
Translation: Hi Inès! This summer I'm working in a café in Toronto. I love this job! In the morning, my co-worker Maya and I fill the fridges and sell muffins and smoothies. The customers choose their drinks at the counter. When a customer waits too long, he loses patience… so I answer his questions quickly. In the evening I finish at six o'clock. What about you, are you working this summer? What to notice: all three groups appear — -er (travaille, adore, travailles), -ir (remplissons, choisissent, finis) and -re (vendons, attend, perd, réponds) — and je travaille translates as 'I'm working'.
Worked examples
Reveal one step at a time and try to beat it to the next line.
Example 1
Conjugate choisir (to choose) for nous.
Example 2
Translate: They (a group of girls) are waiting for the bus.
Example 3
Translate: We have been studying French for three years.
Where marks get lost
Translating '-ing' with être: Je suis joue au hockey. The plain present already means 'I am playing': Je joue au hockey.
Dropping the -iss- of finir-type verbs: nous finons, ils choisent. The plural forms are nous finissons, ils choisissent.
Pronouncing the -ent of ils parlent — it is silent, so ils parlent sounds exactly like il parle.
Forgetting elision: je écoute, je habite. Write j'écoute, j'habite.
Adding the English preposition: J'écoute à la radio or Je cherche pour mon sac. Écouter and chercher already include it: J'écoute la radio, Je cherche mon sac.
Flashcards 8
Regular -er endings
Regular -ir (finir) endings
Regular -re (vendre) endings
on
+ 4 more
Practice
1
Nous ___ nos devoirs avant le souper. (finir)
2
Which form of parler sounds different from the other three?
3
Which pronoun replaces Léa et Marc?
4
What can je regarde la télé mean?
5
Ils ___ toujours leurs clés. (perdre — They always lose their keys.)
6
Conjugate vendre for il: Il ___ son vélo.
7
Conjugate répondre for vous: Vous ___ à la question.
8
Conjugate choisir for elles: Elles ___ un film.
9
Write 'I listen' in French (écouter).
10
Match each subject to its form of attendre (to wait for).
je
il
nous
vous
ils
11
Order the steps for conjugating a regular verb.
1Remove the ending to find the stem
2Check whether je needs to elide to j'
3Add the ending that matches the subject
4Identify the group from the infinitive ending (-er, -ir or -re)