Conjugating regular –er verbs en français
“Conjugation” means that you are taking a verb and breaking it down into usable forms.
An unconjugated verb is called an “infinitive.” * This is the form of the verb that you will find in a dictionary.
For example, être is the infinitive form of the verb “to be. ” For example, être is the infinitive form of the verb “to be.” ***You will only find être in a dictionary; you will not find any of its conjugations (suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont).
Être is an irregular verb, which means that there is no pattern to follow to conjugate it. You just have to memorize all six forms. Not all French verbs are this hard!!!
There are three categories of regular verbs in French: -er verbs -ir verbs -re verbs
We are going to focus on the most common type (95% of all French verbs). -er verbs
Let’s take a really common –er verb: parler
parler is the infinitive Step 1: drop the –er from the infinitive; this leaves you with the “stem” of the verb. parler parl-
parler is the infinitive Step 2: add specific endings onto the stem, based on the subject pronoun you are using -e -ons -es -ez -e -ent
parler – to speak Start with the stem! parl- parl- parl- nous vous ils/elles parl- parl- parl- je tu il/elle Start with the stem!
parler – to speak -e -es -e nous vous ils/elles -ons -ez -ent je tu il/elle Add the proper endings.
parler – to speak parl- -e parl- -es parl- -e nous vous ils/elles parl- -ons parl- -ez parl- -ent je tu il/elle
parler – to speak parle parles parle nous vous ils/elles parlons parlez parlent je tu il/elle
parler – to speak parle parles parle parlons parlez parlent nous vous ils/elles je tu il/elle
Let’s look at some other samples:
habiter – to live habite habites habite nous vous ils/elles habitons habitez habitent j’ tu il/elle
regarder – to look (at) regarde regardes regarde nous vous ils/elles regardons regardez regardent je tu il/elle
étudier – to study étudie étudies étudie nous vous ils/elles étudions étudiez étudient j’ tu il/elle
Conjugating regular –er verbs in French