Les verbes en -er

chanter – to singtelephoner – to call danser – to dancetravailler – to work diner – to have dinnervoyager –to travel ecouter – to listen etudier – to study jouer – to play manger – to eat nager – to swim parler – to speak, talk regarder – to watch

All the words on the previous page are activities also known as verbs. All of the words on the last page end in –er. Many verbs end in –er. Many of them are conjugated in the same way.

Parler – means to speak or talk. This is called the infinitive of the verb or the basic form of the verb. The present tense forms of –er verbs consist of two parts STEM + ENDING The STEM comes from the infinitive minus -er parler- parl

parl- The stem is the same for with every pronoun. It does not change. Je parl- Tu parl- Il/Elle parl- Nous parl- Vous parl- Ils/Elles parl- But we are not done conjugating. We need to add the endings

Stem + endings The endings for –er verbs change for each subject. Je parle Tu parles Il/Elle parle Nous parlons Vous parlez Ils/Elles parlent The endings are silent

Je becomes J when it comes before verbs that begin with a vowel or the letter h Aimer – to like JaimeNous aimons Tu aimesVous aimez Il/Elle aimeElles/Ils aiment

Pronunciation of –er verb forms The Je, Tu and Il/Elle forms of –er verbs are silent. Je parle Tu parles Il/Elle parle

Pronuniation When the verb begins with a vowel, there is a liaison between the Nous, Vous and Ils and Elles and the verb Nous aimons Vous aimez Ils aiment Elles aiment

When the infinitive of the verb ends in –ger, the nous form ends in –geons. nager: nous nageons manger: nous mangeons voyager: nous voyageons

New Verbs Look at some more verbs that end in-er. aimer- to like habiter (a) - to live inviter – to invite organiser – to organise visiter – to visit(place)

Language Comparisions English had several verb forms for expressing actions in the present. In French there is only one form. Je joue au tennis. - I play tennis I do play tennis. I am playing tennis.

Affirmative and Negative We have already discussed how to make a sentence negative. Look how I apply the same rules to our new verbs. Je ne parle pas.Nous ne parlons pas Tu ne parles pasVous ne parlez pas Il ne parle pasElles ne parlent pas Elle ne parle pasIls ne parlent pas

Remember to pattern: Subject + ne + VERB + pas n ( vowel sound) Il ne travaille pas ici. Je ninvite pas Pierre.

verb + infinitive Look at the following sentences and notice how many verbs are included in each sentence. Jaime parler francais. – I like to speak French. Ils naiment pas danser. – They dont like to dance.

Subject + present tense + infinitive Nous aimons voyager The infinitive can also be used after the following expressions: Je prefereJe prefere travailler. Je voudraisJe voudrais voyager. Je (ne) veux (pas)Je veux jouer au foot. Est-ce que tu veuxEst-ce que tu veux danser? Je (ne) veux (pas)Je ne peux pas diner avec toi. Je doisJe dois etudier.