-er Verbs
-er verbs are the most common verbs in French. When the Academie Française
decides that a foreign verb (usually English) can be added to the French
language, it is added to this group. So it is important that you learn
how to conjugate it properly.
-er verbs take the following endings in the present tense:
je -e nous -ons
tu -es vous -ez
il -e ils -ent
You must learn these endings by heart!
To properly conjugate the -er verbs you drop the -er ending from the stem
and add one of the endings above, to agree with the subject of the sentence.
For example, let's conjugate the verb parler.
Parler - to speak, is made up of two parts. The stem parl
and the ending er. When you conjugate a verb you drop the ending
and add one of the endings above
to the stem to conjugate the verb.
To say I speak you drop the -er and add the ending "-e"
to the stem, parl:
Je parle.
To say You speak you would drop the -er and add the ending -es:
Tu parles.
And so forth.
Il parle. Nous parlons. Vous parlez. Ils parlent.
So far, pretty easy.
However, there are a few -er verbs that undergo some spelling changes when
you conjugate them. There aren't many, so I've summerized them below.
A. -er verbs that end in e(consonant)er.
-er verbs that end in an e(consonant)er change the e before the
consonant to an è before an ending with a mute or unstressed
e in it. (the je, tu, il/elle, ils/elles conjugations). For example:
acheter.
j'achète nous achetons
tu achètes vous achetez
il/elle achète ils/elles achètent
Some -er verbs that end in -eler (appeler) and -eter (jeter)
require that you not add an accent to the e before the l or
t but that you double the l or the t.
s'appeler
je m'appelle vous vous appelez
tu t'appelles nous nous appelons
il/elle s'appelle ils/elles s'appellent
jeter
je jette vous jetez
tu jettes nous jetons
il/elle jette ils/elles jettent
Verbs of this kind are fairly uncommon. The only ones you are likely to
encounter are the following:
acheter to buy geler to freeze
ciseler to engrave haleter to pant
congeler to (deep) freeze modeler to model
crocheter to hook (up) peler to peel
déceler to disclose racheter to buy back / to buy
again
dégeler to thaw
démanteler to dismantle
-er verbs ending in é(consonet)er change the é
to an è like in the verb acheter above.
-er verbs ending in -ayer, -oyer, -uyer change the
y to an i in the je, tu, il and ils
forms. For example: payer.
je paie vous payez
tu paies nous payons
il paie ils paient
-er verbs that end in -cer or -ger change the c to
ç and the g to ge before the letters a and
o. This is to add in prononciation and for now only occurs in the
present tense of the nous form. For example:
commencer: nous commençons nager: nous nageons
This handout just deals with the present tense. Hopefully it will
help you in your conjugations.