How to conjugate regular -ER verbs in French
There are five main kinds of verbs in French: regular -ER, -IR, -RE; stem-changing; and irregular. Once you’ve learned the rules of conjugation for each of the first three kinds of verbs, you should have no problem conjugating regular verbs in each of those categories. The majority of French verbs are regular -ER verbs – see the next page for a list of some common -ER verbs.
The verb form that ends in -ER is called the infinitive (in English, the infinitive is the verb preceded by the word “to”), and -ER is the infinitive ending.
The verb with the infinitive ending removed is called the stem or radical. To conjugate -ER verbs, remove the infinitive ending to find the stem and add the endings in the table below.
FRENCH REGULAR -ER VERB CONJUGATIONS |
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| To conjugate an -ER verb in the present tense, remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings. For example, here are the present tense conjugations for the regular -ER verbs parler (to speak), donner (to give), and visiter (to visit): | |||||
| Pronoun | Ending | parler > parl- | donner > donn- | visiter > visit- | |
| je | -e | parle | donne | visite | |
| tu | -es | parles | donnes | visites | |
| il | -e | parle | donne | visite | |
| nous | -ons | parlons | donnons | visitons | |
| vous | -ez | parlez | donnez | visitez | |
| ils | -ent | parlent | donnent | visitent | |
SOME COMMON FRENCH REGULAR -ER VERBS
French regular -ER verbs, by far the largest group of French verbs, share a conjugation pattern.Here are just a few of the most common regular -ER verbs: aimer to like, to love arriver to arrive, to happen chanter to sing chercher to look for commencer* to begin danser to dance demander to ask for dépenser to spend (money) détester to hate donner to give écouter to listen to étudier** to study fermer to close goûter to taste
jouer to play
laver to wash
manger* to eat
nager* to swim
parler to talk, to speak
passer to pass, spend (time)
penser to think
porter to wear, to carry
regarder to watch, to look at
rêver to dream
sembler to seem
skier* to ski
travailler to work
trouver to find
visiter to visit (a place)
voler to fly, to steal
*All regular -ER verbs are conjugated according to the regular -ER verb conjugation pattern, except for one small irregularity in verbs that end in -ger and -cer, which are known as spelling-change verbs.
**Though conjugated just like regular -ER verbs, watch out for verbs that end in -IER.
How to conjugate regular -ER verbs in French]]>