The French present tense: -er, -ir and -re verbs, irregulars and uses

Regular endings: -er, -ir and -re

Most French verbs end in -er, and all of them except aller take the same endings. Take off the ending to find the stem, then add the ending for the person.

1. Four -er forms sound the same. parle, parles, parle, parlent are all said “parl”: the -e, -es and -ent endings are silent. Only nous parlons and vous parlez sound different.
2. The -ir group adds -iss- in the plural. nous finissons, ils finissent. The same model gives choisir, réussir, remplir, grandir, rougir.
3. -re verbs keep the d in the singular. il vend, il attend, il répond, with no t; the d is silent.
4. Je becomes j’ before a vowel or a silent h. j’aime, j’habite, j’écoute.

Some -ir verbs follow a different model, without -iss-: partir (je pars, tu pars, il part, nous partons, vous partez, ils partent), sortir (je sors) and dormir (je dors).

The -er spelling traps

Regular in the endings, some -er verbs change their spelling to keep the sound.

1. -ger verbs keep an e before -ons. nous mangeons, nous nageons, nous voyageons.
2. -cer verbs take a cedilla before -ons. nous commençons, nous lançons.
3. Acheter, préférer: an è in the boot forms. j’achète, tu achètes, il achète, nous achetons, vous achetez, ils achètent; je préfère, but nous préférons.
4. Appeler and jeter double the consonant. je m’appelle, tu t’appelles, il s’appelle, nous nous appelons, vous vous appelez, ils s’appellent; je jette, nous jetons.
5. -yer verbs: y becomes i in the boot forms. j’envoie, ils envoient, but nous envoyons. For payer, both je paie and je paye are correct.

The irregular verbs that matter

1. Only four verbs end in -ont. ils sont, ils ont, ils vont, ils font.
2. Only three end in -es with vous. vous êtes, vous faites, vous dites. Everywhere else: -ez.

What the French present means

1. Habits, facts, now. Je joue au foot le samedi. Paris est en France. Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? — Je lis.
2. No “-ing” tense. Je mange means “I eat” and “I am eating”. To stress that it is happening right now: Je suis en train de manger.
3. An action still going on: depuis. J’apprends le français depuis deux ans (I have been learning French for two years). English uses a perfect tense; French uses the present.
4. The near future. Je pars demain. Aller + infinitive (Je vais partir) is taught alongside.

Questions and negatives

There are three ways to ask a question, from the most informal to the most formal.

Tu parles anglais ?Do you speak English? (intonation, everyday speech)

Est-ce que tu parles anglais ?Do you speak English? (neutral)

Parles-tu anglais ?Do you speak English? (inversion, more formal)

With inversion, a -t- is added between two vowels: Parle-t-il anglais ? A-t-elle un frère ?

The negative wraps the verb: ne before, pas after. Ne becomes n’ before a vowel: Je ne mange pas de viande. Il n’aime pas le sport. In casual speech the ne is often dropped (Je sais pas): pupils will hear it, but should write it.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• “Je suis manger” for “I am eating”: je mange.
• Pronouncing -ent: ils parlent sounds exactly like il parle.
• “Vous faisez”, “vous disez”: vous faites, vous dites.
• “Ils allent”, “ils faisent”: ils vont, ils font.
• “Nous mangons”, “nous commencons”: nous mangeons, nous commençons.
• “Je aime”, “je habite”: j’aime, j’habite.
• “Je ne mange pas la viande”: after a negative, du, de la and des become de: pas de viande.
• “I have been living here for…” in the perfect: J’habite ici depuis trois ans.

In class: the daily conjugation wheel

1. Draw a verb: today, finir. The class names its group.
2. Point to a person on a pronoun grid; the class answers in chorus: je finis, tu finis, il finit…
3. Reveal each form after the class has said it. Ask: “Which forms sound the same?”
4. One pupil makes a question with inversion, another answers in the negative: Finis-tu tes devoirs ? — Non, je ne finis pas mes devoirs.
5. Recycle yesterday’s verb with nous and vous only, the forms pupils get wrong most.

That is exactly what a daily conjugation routine does: a verb is drawn, the class conjugates it person by person, and every form is checked on the spot.

Adapting to your class

• A1Regular -er verbs, être, avoir; singular persons first, then nous and vous.
• A2-ir and -re verbs, aller, faire, prendre, modal verbs, questions and negatives.
• B1Spelling changes, depuis, and the present in contrast with the perfect tense.
• B2Inversion in writing, être en train de, present versus present subjunctive: Je pense qu’il vient / Je ne pense pas qu’il vienne.

At KS2, chunks (je m’appelle, j’ai, j’habite) are enough. At KS3, build the three groups and the key irregulars. For GCSE, the present of être, avoir, aller and faire must be automatic: every compound tense is built on it.

Frequently asked questions