Grammar School

Regular -er verbs in the present

Conjugate any regular -er verb and build full sentences with it.

What this is

Roughly ninety percent of French verbs end in -er, and almost all of them behave identically. Parler, travailler, chanter, écouter, habiter — one pattern covers the lot. This is the single highest-return thing in beginner French: learn six endings once and you have thousands of verbs.

You have already been using some of these verbs whole, as blocks — j’aime, je préfère, tu regardes. This concept takes the block apart and shows you the machine inside it, so you can build the form yourself for a verb nobody has taught you.

The rule

Take the infinitive, cut off the -er, and you have the stem. Parler → parl-. Then bolt on the ending for your subject.

ending parler pronounced
je -e je parle parl
tu -es tu parles parl
il / elle / on -e il parle parl
nous -ons nous parlons par-LON
vous -ez vous parlez par-LAY
ils / elles -ent ils parlent parl

Read the right-hand column again. Four of the six forms are pronounced identically. Je parle, tu parles, il parle and ils parlent are, in the mouth, the same word: parl. The -e, -es and -ent endings are all completely silent. Only nous (-ons) and vous (-ez) sound different from the rest.

This is why the pronoun matters so much in French. In English, work and works carry some of the information; in spoken French the verb often carries none of it, and je, tu, il, ils are doing the entire job.

Three more things travel with the pattern:

Negation wraps the conjugated verb. Ne goes in front of it, pas goes behind it: je ne travaille pas. The verb sits inside the sandwich. Before a vowel, ne elides: elle n’écoute pas.

Two verbs in a row leave the second in the infinitive. J’aime danser. Elle préfère travailler. French does not need anything between them — no to, no -ing. The first verb is conjugated, the second stays in its dictionary form.

Questions have a cheap version. In speech, keep the word order and lift your voice at the end: Tu habites ici ? To make it explicit, bolt est-ce que onto the front of an ordinary statement and change nothing else: Est-ce que tu habites ici ? Before a vowel it becomes est-ce qu’ — est-ce qu’elle chante ?

Why it works this way

The silent endings are not laziness; they are erosion. Latin pronounced all of these endings, and French kept the spelling long after the sound had worn off the end of the word. What is left is a writing system that still distinguishes six forms and a sound system that distinguishes three.

That mismatch explains a lot of French. The language compensated for endings it could no longer hear by making the subject pronoun compulsory — you cannot drop je the way Spanish or Italian can, because without it the sentence carries no person at all. It also explains why nous and vous feel so distinct when you say them: their endings survived, so they are the two forms your ear can actually use.

One more consequence worth internalising: French has one present tense where English has three. Je travaille covers I work, I am working, and I do work. There is no separate progressive form to build, and trying to invent one — je suis travaillant — produces something no French speaker says.

Edge cases

The silent endings are a spelling problem, not a speaking problem

You will hear parl and have to decide, from context and from the pronoun, whether it was je parle, tu parles, il parle or ils parlent. When you write, the ending matters completely; when you speak, three of them are inaudible. Do not let the spelling make you think there are six sounds to learn. There are three: parl, parlons, parlez.

je contracts to j’ before a vowel or a mute h

J’habite, j’écoute, j’aime, j’étudie. This is not optional and it is not a shortcut — je habite is simply wrong. The h of habiter is mute, so it does not block the elision; the word behaves as if it began with the a.

aller ends in -er and is not one of these

Aller (to go) has the ending but none of the pattern: je vais, tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont. It is one of the most irregular verbs in the language. Treat it as a stranger that happens to be wearing the family uniform.

A few verbs adjust their stem, and that is the next concept

Préférer becomes je préfère, acheter becomes j’achète, manger becomes nous mangeons. The endings in all of these are the six you just learned — it is the stem that shifts, always to protect a sound. You will meet the whole set next; for now, take the forms as given when they appear.

parler takes a bare language, aimer takes an article

Je parle français — no article. But j’aime le français — article required. When you like something in general, French puts the definite article in front of it, where English uses nothing at all: j’aime le chocolat, les enfants aiment la musique. Leaving the article out (j’aime chocolat) is one of the most audible beginner errors there is.

habiter takes à before a city

J’habite à Paris. The preposition is not optional in careful speech, and à is the one you want for a city.

What English speakers get wrong here

Inventing a progressive. Je suis travaillant for I am working. There is no such construction; je travaille already means it.

Putting something between two verbs. J’aime à danser is wrong; j’aime danser is right. Nothing goes between them.

Dropping ne. Casual spoken French does drop it (je travaille pas), and you will hear this constantly, but write both halves until the pattern is automatic.

Forgetting the article after aimer, détester and préférer. J’aime le chocolat, never j’aime chocolat.

And writing -ent where you hear nothing. Ils parlent has a four-letter ending you will never pronounce; the silence is not permission to leave it off the page.

Examples

42 examples across 20 angles. 0 already have audio; the rest synthesize on first play.

je form

Je cherche la clé de la voiture.
I look-for the key of the car
I'm looking for the car key.
chercher already contains for. Adding pour here would be wrong.
Je travaille à l'hôpital avec deux médecins.
I work at the hospital with two doctors
I work at the hospital with two doctors.
Stem travaill- plus -e. The ending is silent, so it stops at tra-VAI, rhyming with eye.

tu form

Tu trouves le film difficile ?
you find the film difficult?
Do you find the film difficult?
The -s of trouves is silent, so this sounds exactly like je trouve.
Tu oublies souvent les clés.
you forget often the keys
You often forget the keys.

il form

Il écoute le professeur et il regarde l'ordinateur.
he listens-to the teacher and he looks-at the computer
He listens to the teacher and looks at the computer.
Both verbs carry their preposition inside them: écouter is listen to, regarder is look at.
Il aide souvent le voisin.
he helps often the neighbour
He often helps the neighbour.
Il rentre à la maison le soir.
he goes-back to the house the evening
He goes home in the evening.
le soir with no other marker means in the evenings, as a habit.

elle form

Elle chante souvent le soir.
she sings often the evening
She often sings in the evening.
Elle étudie l'anglais et l'italien.
she studies the English and the Italian
She studies English and Italian.
As the object of a verb, a language keeps its article: l'anglais, not anglais.

on form

On danse beaucoup ici.
one dances a-lot here
There's a lot of dancing here.
on takes the il ending even when it means we or people in general.
On travaille trop, mais on aime le travail.
one works too-much, but one likes the work
We work too much, but we like the work.
The verb travailler and the noun travail share a stem — one is what you do, the other is the thing.

nous form

Nous étudions le français avec un bon professeur.
we study the French with a good teacher
We study French with a good teacher.
The stem étudi- ends in i, so nous étudions has two vowels running together. Still regular.
Nous cherchons un bureau à Paris.
we look-for an office at Paris
We're looking for an office in Paris.

vous form

Vous parlez français, monsieur ?
you speak French, sir?
Do you speak French, sir?
After parler a language takes no article at all — compare elle étudie l'anglais.
Vous travaillez trop, et vous êtes fatigué.
you work too-much, and you are tired
You work too much, and you're tired.
A regular -er verb next to an irregular one: travaillez follows the pattern, êtes does not.

ils form

Les étudiants écoutent la musique.
the students listen-to the music
The students are listening to the music.
The four letters of -ent are entirely silent: écoutent sounds like écoute.
Elles dansent avec les enfants.
they dance with the children
They're dancing with the children.
elles takes the same -ent ending as ils. Gender changes the pronoun, never the verb.

je elides before vowel

J'habite à Paris.
I live at Paris
I live in Paris.
The h of habiter is mute, so je elides as if the word began with a. Je habite is never correct.
J'écoute la musique le matin.
I listen-to the music the morning
I listen to music in the morning.

silent endings sound identical

Je travaille et ils travaillent.
I work and they work
I work and they work.
Five letters apart on the page, identical in the mouth. Only je and ils tell them apart.
Tu danses, elle danse, ils dansent.
you dance, she dances, they dance
You dance, she dances, they dance.
Three spellings, one sound: dans. Say it aloud and the whole sentence repeats one word.

nous and vous are audibly distinct

Nous chantons et vous chantez.
we sing and you sing
We sing and you sing.
-ons is ON, -ez is AY. These two are the only endings your ear can actually use.
Nous travaillons ici, vous travaillez là.
we work here, you work there
We work here, you work there.

negation wraps the verb

Je ne travaille pas le lundi.
I not work not the Monday
I don't work on Mondays.
ne in front, pas behind, the conjugated verb sandwiched between them.
Elle n'écoute pas la musique.
she not listens-to not the music
She isn't listening to the music.
ne elides to n' before the vowel of écoute, exactly as je does.
Nous ne trouvons pas la maison.
we not find not the house
We can't find the house.

question by intonation

Tu habites ici ?
you live here?
Do you live here?
Statement word order, rising voice. This is how questions are actually asked in speech.
Vous cherchez le professeur ?
you look-for the teacher?
Are you looking for the teacher?

question with est ce que

Est-ce que tu travailles ici ?
is-it-that you work here?
Do you work here?
est-ce que translates to nothing. Bolt it on the front and the rest of the sentence is unchanged.
Est-ce que Marie chante souvent le soir ?
is-it-that Marie sings often the evening?
Does Marie often sing in the evening?
Before a vowel it contracts: est-ce qu'elle chante ?

adverb placement after verb

Il parle beaucoup, mais il écoute peu.
he speaks a-lot, but he listens little
He talks a lot, but he listens little.
The adverb follows the verb directly. English can say he often listens; French cannot.
Elle porte toujours un grand sac.
she carries always a big bag
She always carries a big bag.
toujours slots between the verb and its object. Elle toujours porte is not possible.

with a direct object

Le professeur donne un livre à l'étudiante.
the teacher gives a book to the student
The teacher gives the student a book.
The object comes straight after the verb; the person receiving is marked with à.
Nous regardons un film italien maintenant.
we look-at a film Italian now
We're watching an Italian film now.
One present tense does the work of two English ones: this is both we watch and we are watching.

with an infinitive complement

J'aime danser et chanter.
I like to-dance and to-sing
I like dancing and singing.
Nothing sits between the two verbs — no à, no de. The second one simply stays in the infinitive.
Elle préfère travailler le matin.
she prefers to-work the morning
She prefers to work in the morning.
préfère takes an accent the plain pattern would not predict. That is the next concept's subject — the endings here are still the ordinary ones.

aimer plus definite article

J'aime le chocolat, mais je déteste le fromage.
I like the chocolate, but I hate the cheese
I like chocolate, but I hate cheese.
English drops the article for a general liking; French requires it. J'aime chocolat is wrong.
Les enfants aiment la musique et les animaux.
the children like the music and the animals
Children like music and animals.
Both nouns keep their article, and aiment sounds exactly like aime.

habiter with a place

Marie et Paul habitent à Paris.
Marie and Paul live at Paris
Marie and Paul live in Paris.
Two singular subjects joined by et take the ils ending.
Elle habite à Paris et travaille à l'hôpital.
she lives at Paris and works at the hospital
She lives in Paris and works at the hospital.
à covers both in a city and at a workplace.

parler with a language

Nous parlons français à la maison.
we speak French at the house
We speak French at home.
No article after parler, and no capital letter on the language.
Ils parlent anglais et italien.
they speak English and Italian
They speak English and Italian.

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