๐ต First-group verbs in the present
๐ In short
Most French verbs end in -er, like parler (to speak), jouer (to play) and chanter (to sing). Great news: almost all of them are conjugated the same way! Take off -er and add the ending that goes with the pronoun.
๐ The lesson
1 Stem and ending
parler: take off er to leave the stem parl, then add the endings -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez and -ent.
| Pronoun | Verb |
|---|---|
| je | parle |
| tu | parles |
| il / elle | parle |
| nous | parlons |
| vous | parlez |
| ils / elles | parlent |
2 Pronunciation
The endings -e, -es and -ent are silent! je parle, tu parles and ils parlent all sound like โparlโ. But -ons and -ez are pronounced.
3 Other verbs that follow the rule
- Je joue au ballon.I'm playing with the ball.
- Tu chantes bien.You sing well.
- Nous regardons la tรฉlรฉ.We're watching TV.
- Vous dansez ?Are you dancing?
- Elles aiment les fleurs.They love flowers.
4 The case of manger
With nous we add an e after the g to keep the soft sound: nous mangeons. The same goes for nager: nous nageons.
๐ In a picture
๐ก Watch out!
- The verb aller (to go) ends in -er, but it's irregular and doesn't follow the rule!
- Try conjugating danser and dessiner on your own, then compare with the table.
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 nous + jouer
2 ils + chanter
3 tu + regarder
โ The verb avoir in the presentโ Second-group verbs in the present
๐ Related lessons
- ๐ The verb รชtre in the present
- ๐ The verb avoir in the present
- ๐ Second-group verbs in the present
- ๐ถ The verbs aller and faire in the present
- โฎ๏ธ The passรฉ composรฉ
- โญ๏ธ The futur proche
- ๐ชฅ Reflexive verbs: je me lave
- ๐ฃ Commands: Range ta chambre !
- ๐ฐ๏ธ The imparfait
- ๐ The futur simple
- ๐ The verbs prendre and venir in the present
- ๐ pouvoir, vouloir and devoir