French Verbs – Present Tense of Regular -er Verbs

Regular verbs in French fall into one of three categories, depending on their ending. There are -er verbs, such as jouer (‘to play’), -re verbs, such as attendre (‘to wait’); and -ir verbs such as finir (‘to finish’). The biggest group is the -er verbs, covered in this lesson.

What Is a Verb Stem?

The part of a word that relays its actual meaning is called the stem. In the case of verbs, therefore, the stem is derived by removing any additional endings that are conveying other information. For regular verbs in French, removing the -er, -ir or -re from the infinitive form will often provide the stem, as illustrated below:

Infinitve	Stem
jouer	jou
attendre	attend
finir	fin

What Are the Present Tense Endings for -er Verbs in French?

One you have derived the stem, the verb needs to ‘agree’ according to the person carrying out the action. Regular -er verbs take the following endings, which are then added to the stem, to create the present tense:

je	-e
tu	-es
il	-e
elle	-e
nous	-ons
vous	-ez
ils	-ent
elles	-ent

Let’s check this out in practice, with the verb jouer, ‘to play,’ where the endings have been highlighted:

Watch the video as many times as you need, until you feel you can give the French translations as we go!

Now we can see what we’ve learned. Look at the English and see if you can provide the French for the following:

jouer	to play
je joue	I play
tu joues	you play
il joue	he plays
elle joue	she plays
nous jouons	we play
vous jouez	you play
ils jouent	they play
elles jouent	they play

What are common -er verbs in French?

Common -er verbs in French, which work in the same way as above, include:

aider	to help
aimer	to love
apporter	to bring
arriver	to arrive
chanter	to sing
chercher	to look for
danser	to dance
détester	to hate
donner	to give
écouter	to listen to
entrer	to enter
étudier	to study
fermer	to close
habiter	to live (in)
jouer	to play
monter	to go up
parler	to speak
penser	to think
porter	to carry, to wear
tomber	to fall
travailler	to work
trouver	to find