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🇫🇷 French for beginners (A1) · Chapter 6

Regular -er verbs in the present tense

About 90% of French verbs end in -er and follow one pattern. Learn it with parler and you can conjugate thousands of verbs — and four of the six forms sound exactly the same.

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The basics

Regular -er verbs are verbs whose infinitive (the dictionary form) ends in -er — parler (to speak), aimer (to like), habiter (to live), travailler (to work). They all follow one pattern in the present tense.

The problem it solves: être and avoir (lesson 3) had to be memorised. -er verbs don't: remove -er, add six endings, and you have the verb. That one pattern covers the verbs you use to talk about your life — where you live, what you study, what you like, where you work.

The mental model: stem + ending. Parler → stem parl- → add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. The good news for speaking: -e, -es, -e, -ent are all silent, so je parle, tu parles, il parle, ils parlent all sound like parl. Only nous parlons (-ohn) and vous parlez (-ay) sound different.

And the French present tense covers both I speak and I am speaking — there is no separate -ing form.

Words you must know 4

infinitive
the -er form in the dictionary
stem
the infinitive minus -er
parler, aimer, habiter, travailler, étudier
your first five
aller
ends in -er but is irregular (je vais)

Explained

je parle · tu parles · il parle · ils parlent

Four spellings. One sound: parl.

That's the secret of -er verbs: for speaking, you mostly need the stem. Learn one pattern here and you get aimer, habiter, travailler, étudier, regarder, écouter, jouer, chercher — and about 4,000 more.

The pattern, with parler

| | ending | parler (to speak) | sound | |---|---|---|---| | je | -e | je parle | zhuh PARL | | tu | -es | tu parles | tü PARL | | il / elle / on | -e | il parle | eel PARL | | nous | -ons | nous parlons | noo par-LOHN | | vous | -ez | vous parlez | voo par-LAY | | ils / elles | -ent | ils parlent | eel PARL |

Verbs starting with a vowel elide and link:

Negative: Je ne parle pas allemand. · Je n'aime pas le café.

Conjugate any -er verb in 3 steps

Exception to watch: if the verb ends in -ger or -cer, the nous form keeps the sound — mangeons, commençons.

Fifteen verbs to talk about your life

Small talk with a new French colleague

Meera (Chennai team) and Hugo (Paris team) on a first video call.

Hugo : Tu habites à Chennai ?

Meera : Oui, j'habite à Chennai, mais je travaille aussi à Bangalore le lundi.

Hugo : Tu parles bien français !

Meera : Merci ! J'étudie le français depuis six mois. (for six months)

Hugo : Et le week-end, tu regardes le cricket ?

Meera : Oui, j'adore le cricket. Mon frère et moi, nous regardons tous les matchs.

Hugo : Moi, je préfère le foot. Je joue au foot le samedi.

Count the verbs: habiter, travailler, parler, étudier, regarder, adorer, préférer, jouer — all regular -er, all one pattern.

Boot rule: je, tu, il, ils sound the same (parl). Only nous and vous kick out with -ohn and -ay.

Draw a boot around je/tu/il/ils in the table — inside the boot, one sound.

There is no -ing. I am working = je travaille.

Classic mistakes Indian learners make

Conjugate a verb you haven't seen

danser = to dance. arriver = to arrive.

  1. Nous ___ (danser) le bhangra.
  2. Vous ___ (arriver) à quelle heure ?
  3. Elles ___ (danser) bien.
  4. J'___ (arriver) demain.

Words to know

parlerto speak (par-LAY)
aimerto like, to love (eh-MAY)
habiterto live (in a place) (a-bee-TAY)
travaillerto work (tra-va-YAY)
étudierto study (ay-tü-DYAY)
regarderto watch, look at (ruh-gar-DAY)
écouterto listen to (ay-koo-TAY)
jouer au …to play (a sport) (zhoo-AY oh)
mangerto eat (mahn-ZHAY)
chercherto look for (shair-SHAY)
adorer / détesterto love / to hate (a-do-RAY / day-tes-TAY)
préférerto prefer — je préfère (pray-fay-RAY / pray-FEHR)
commencerto start — nous commençons (ko-mahn-SAY)
depuissince / for (with present tense) (duh-PWEE)
un peua little (an PUH)
allerto go — irregular: je vais (a-LAY / zhuh VEH)

In two minutes

Test yourself

1. Nous ___ (habiter) à Jaipur.

  1. habitons
  2. habitez
  3. habitent
  4. habite
Show the answer

habitons — nous → -ons. habitez is vous; habitent is ils/elles.

2. Which form ends in a sound you can hear (not just 'parl')?

  1. tu parles
  2. ils parlent
  3. vous parlez
  4. je parle
Show the answer

vous parlez — -ez sounds 'ay' (par-LAY). -e, -es and -ent are all silent, so the other three sound identical.

3. Translate: I am watching a film.

  1. Je suis regardant un film.
  2. Je regarde un film.
  3. Je suis regarder un film.
  4. J'ai regarde un film.
Show the answer

Je regarde un film. — French has no -ing form; the simple present covers 'I watch' and 'I am watching'. 'Je suis regardant' is the classic English-transfer error.

4. Which is correct?

  1. Je aime le chai.
  2. J'aime le chai.
  3. J'aime chai.
  4. Je aimes le chai.
Show the answer

J'aime le chai. — je + vowel → j', and general likes need le/la/les. 'J'aime chai' drops the article; 'Je aime' breaks elision.

5. How do you say 'I have been living in Pune for two years'?

  1. J'ai habité à Pune pour deux ans.
  2. J'habite à Pune depuis deux ans.
  3. Je suis habitant à Pune deux ans.
  4. J'habite à Pune pour deux ans.
Show the answer

J'habite à Pune depuis deux ans. — An action that started in the past and continues now uses present tense + depuis. The past-tense option means you lived there for two years and no longer do.

6. Nous ___ (manger) à 13 heures.

  1. mangons
  2. mangeons
  3. mangez
  4. mangent
Show the answer

mangeons — The e keeps the g soft (zh) before -ons. Without it, g + o would sound like a hard g — 'mangons' is the regular-rule trap.

There are 9 questions, 3 puzzles and 4 recall cards for this lesson in the app — the recall cards come back on later days, just before you would forget.

Learn it so it stays. Read it, test yourself, then recall it on two different days. The app schedules that for you, free.

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