Present Tense Verbs With Stem Changes

This lesson covers verbs in French that have minor spelling changes in the present tense, such as those with infinitive forms ending in -cer, -ger, -eler, -eter, and -yer.

Some verbs have minor spelling changes, where the verb stem is adjusted slightly. These are mainly used to maintain the correct pronunciation while different endings are being added. Let’s take a look at some common cases where this occurs:

1. French verbs ending ‘-cer’

Watch out for the nous form of the verb, where the ‘c’ becomes ‘ç’ in order to maintain the s-sound. An example of a verb that behaves this way is commencer, ‘to start’:

French	English
je commence	I start
tu commences	you start
il commence	he starts
elle commence	she starts
nous commençons	we start
vous commencez	you start
ils commencent	they start
elles commencent	they start

Other verbs that operate like this include:

annoncer	to announce
avancer	to advance
menacer	to threaten
placer	to place
prononcer	to pronounce
tracer	to draw

2. Verbs ending ‘-ger’

Just like ‘c,’ the letter ‘g’ can be hard or soft, which means we have to make a small change to the nous form, as in the example manger, ‘to eat’:

French	English
je mange	I eat
tu manges	you eat
il mange	he eats
elle mange	she eats
nous mangeons	we eat
vous mangez	you eat
ils mangent	they eat
elles mangent	they eat

Other examples:

arranger	to arrange
bouger	to move
diriger	to direct
nager	to swim
partager	to share
voyager	to travel

3. Verbs ending ‘-eler’ and ‘-eter’

These verbs often double up the consonant at the end of the stem to retain the pronunciation, as we can see in this example rappeler (‘to recall’):

French	English
je rappelle	I recall
tu rappelles	you recall
il rappelle	he recalls
elle rappelle	she recalls
nous rappelons	we recall
vous rappelez	you recall
ils rappellent	they recall
elles rappellent	they recall

However, there are exceptions to this, most notably acheter (‘to buy’), geler (‘to freeze’), peler (‘to peel’) and celer (‘to conceal’). These belong to a different group of verbs, which change the letter ‘e’ instead, as below.

4. Verbs in which ‘e’ becomes ‘è’ when the ending is not pronounced:

An example is acheter (‘to buy’):

French	English
j’achète	I buy
tu achètes	you buy
il achète	he buys
elle achète	she buys
nous achetons	we buy
vous achetez	you buy
ils achètent	they buy
elles achètent	they buy

5. Verbs with a final ‘é’ in the stem

When we remove the ‘-er’ ending, if the final ‘e’ in the stem is ‘é’, then this will become ‘è’ for the verb forms where the endings are silent.

For example, the verb céder (‘to yield’) becomes céd- when we remove the -er ending.

This means that the last (and only) ‘e’ has the acute accent (é), which will need to become the grave accent (è) when we put our verb endings on, except for the forms nous and vous, where the endings are pronounced.

In another example, the stem of espérer (‘to hope’) is espér-, so the same applies. Préférer (‘to prefer’) also follows the same logic. Let’s see this in practice, keeping an eye on that final ‘e’ in the verb.

French	English
je préfère	I prefer
tu préfères	you prefer
il préfère	he prefers
elle préfère	she prefers
nous préférons	we prefer
vous préférez	you prefer
ils préfèrent	they prefer
elles préfèrent	they prefer

Other examples:

célébrer	to celebrate
exagérer	to exaggerate
inquiéter	to worry
posséder	to posses
répéter	to repeat
suggérer	to suggest

6. Dealing with the letter ‘y’ in the infinitive

You’ll come across some verbs that end in ‘-yer,’ such as nettoyer (‘to clean’) or essuyer (‘to wipe’). For these verbs, the ‘y‘ becomes an ‘i‘ when the ending is not a syllable, so again for all forms of the verb except nous and vous. Here’s how it looks:

French	English
je nettoie	I clean
tu nettoies	you clean
il nettoie	he cleans
elle nettoie	she cleans
nous nettoyons	we clean
vous nettoyez	you clean
ils nettoient	they clean
elles nettoient	they clean

Other examples include appuyer (‘to lean’), ennuyer (‘to annoy’) and envoyer (‘to send’).