THE PRESENT TENSE OF REGULAR VERBS
There are 3 types of regular verbs in French:
1. Verbs which end in ‘er’ - eg. Jouer – to play, Chanter – to sing
2. Verbs which end in ‘re’ – eg. Vendre – to sell, Répondre – to reply
3. Verbs which end in ‘ir’ - eg. Finir – to finish, Remplir – to fill
These verbs are called REGULAR VERBS, which means that they follow a REGULAR pattern.
Regular verbs have a different ending according to the person or the subject of the verb. We call the
person or the subject of the verb a subject pronoun.
Subject Pronouns are:
Je / J’ - I Nous – We
Tu - You (singular, familiar) Vous – You (plural, polite)
Il - He / It Ils – They (masculine or a mixed group)
Elle - She / It Elles – They (feminine)
On - One / We / They / People
1. ER verbs
To form an ‘er’ verb first take off the ‘er’
then add the following endings:
Example: Jouer - to play
Je e Je joue
Tu es Tu joues
Il/Elle/On e Il/Elle/On joue
Nous ons Nous jouons
Vous ez Vous jouez
Ils/Elles ent Ils/Elles jouent
2. RE verbs
To form an ‘re’ verb first take off the ‘re’
then add the following endings:
Example: Vendre – to sell
Je s Je vends
Tu s Tu vends
Il/Elle/On - (nothing) Il/Elle/On vend
Nous ons Nous vendons
Vous ez Vous vendez
Ils/Elles ent Ils/Elles vendent
3. IR verbs
To form an ‘ir’ verb first take off the ‘ir’
then add the following endings:
Example: Finir – to finish
Je is Je finis
Tu is Tu finis
Il/Elle/On it Il/Elle/On finit
Nous issons Nous finissons
Vous issez Vous finissez
Ils/Elles issent Ils/Elles finissent
Exercice 1
Add the correct endings to the following verbs:
1. Chanter – to sing
Je chant ___
Tu chant ___
Il/Elle/On chant ___
Nous chant ___
Vous chant ___
Ils/Elles chant ___
2. Descendre – to go down
Je descend ___
Tu descend ___
Il/Elle/On descend
Nous descend ___
Vous descend ___
Ils/Elles descend ___
3. Remplir – to fill
Je rempl _____
Tu rempl _____
Il/Elle/On rempl _____
Nous rempl _____
Vous rempl _____
Ils/Elles rempl _____
Exercice 2
Complete the correct part of the verb
1. Exemple
Je parle (parler)
2. Nous _____________________ (habiter)
3. Tu _______________________ (perdre)
4. Vous _____________________ (répondre)
5. Elle ______________________ (choisir)
6. Ils _______________________ (rougir)