Conjugating Regular Verbs in the Present Indicative Tense
Verbs in French end in -er, -re, or -ir. The verb before it is conjugated
is called the infinitive. Removing the last two letters leaves you
with the stem (aimer is the infinitive, aim- is the stem.)
The present indicative tense indicates an ongoing action, general state,
or habitual activity. Besides the simple present tense (I write,
I run, I see); there are two other forms of the present tense in English:
the progressive (I am writing, I am running, etc.) and the emphatic (I do
write, I do run, etc.) However, these three English present tenses
are all translated by the present indicative tense in French.
To conjugate verbs in the present tense, use the stem and add the following
endings.
| -er | -re | 1st -ir | 2nd -ir* | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -e | -ons | -s | -ons | -is | -issons | -s | -ons | |||
| -es | -ez | -s | -ez | -is | -issez | -s | -ez | |||
| -e | -ent | - | -ent | -it | -issent | -t | -ent | |||
| aimer -to like, love | vendre - to sell | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| j'aime | zhem | aimons | em-ohn | vends | vawn | vendons | vawn-dohn | |
| aimes | em | aimez | em-ay | vends | vawn | vendez | vawn-day | |
| aime | em | aiment | em | vend | vawn | vendent | vawn | |
| finir - to finish | partir - to leave | |||||||
| finis | fee-nee | finissons | fee-nee-sohn | pars | pahr | partons | pahr-tohn | |
| finis | fee-nee | finissez | fee-nee-say | pars | pahr | partez | pahr-tay | |
| finit | fee-nee | finissent | fee-neess | part | pahr | partent | pahrt | |
| -er | -re | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aimer | em-ay | to like, love | vendre | vawn-druh | to sell | |
| chanter | shahn-tay | to sing | attendre | ah-tawn-druh | to wait for | |
| chercher | share-shay | to look for | entendre | awn-tawn-druh | to listen | |
| commencer | koh-mawn-say | to begin | perdre | pair-druh | to lose | |
| donner | dohn-nay | to give | répondre (à) | ray-pohn-druh (ah) | to answer | |
| étudier | ay-too-dee-ay | to study | descendre | deh-sawn-druh | to go down | |
| fermer | fehr-may | to close | 1st -ir | |||
| habiter | ah-bee-tay | to live | bâtir | bah-teer | to build | |
| jouer | zhoo-ay | to play | finir | fee-neer | to finish | |
| manger | mawn-zhay | to eat | choisir | shwa-zeer | to choose | |
| montrer | mohn-tray | to show | punir | poo-neer | to punish | |
| parler | par-lay | to speak | remplir | rawn-pleer | to fill | |
| penser | pawn-say | to think | obéir (à) | oh-bay-eer (ah) | to obey | |
| travailler | trah-vy-yay | to work | réussir | ray-oo-seer | to succeed | |
| trouver | troo-vay | to find | guérir | gay-reer | to cure, heal | |
Note: If a verb is followed by à (like répondre)
you have to use the à and any contractions after the conjugated verb.
Ex: Je réponds au téléphone.
* The 2nd -ir verbs are considered irregular sometimes because there are
only a few verbs which follow that pattern. Other verbs like partir
are sortir (to go out), dormir (to sleep), mentir (to
lie), sentir (to smell, feel) and servir (to serve.)
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages