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- Present tense: regular -er verbs
Present tense: regular -er verbs
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Most French verbs end in -er, and they all follow the same pattern. Learn it once and you can use hundreds of verbs.
The pattern
Take off -er to find the stem, then add the ending.
Pronunciation
The je, tu, il and ils forms all sound the same: joue, joues, joue, jouent. The -ent of ils jouent is silent.
Je becomes j' before a vowel or silent h: j'aime, j'écoute, j'habite.
Je becomes j' before a vowel or silent h: j'aime, j'écoute, j'habite.
Useful -er verbs
parler (to speak), écouter (to listen to), aimer (to like), habiter (to live), travailler (to work), manger (to eat), danser, chanter, nager (to swim), surfer (to surf).
Verbs ending in -ger keep an e in the nous form so the g stays soft: nous mangeons, nous nageons.
The present tense means both "I play" and "I am playing".
Verbs ending in -ger keep an e in the nous form so the g stays soft: nous mangeons, nous nageons.
The present tense means both "I play" and "I am playing".
Translate: We listen to music and they watch TV.
- We listen: nous écoutons.
- to music: de la musique (écouter needs no word for to).
- they watch TV: ils regardent la télé.
Answer: Nous écoutons de la musique et ils regardent la télé.
Regular -er verbs: stem + -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Je, tu, il and ils forms sound the same. Je becomes j' before a vowel. Mangeons and nageons keep the e.
The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.
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