French Verbs – Present Tense of Regular -ir 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 are the present tense endings for -ir verbs in French?

Verbs ending in -ir are formed by first removing the -ir from the infinitive to create the stem, to which the following endings are added:

je -is
tu -is
il -it
elle -it
nous -issons
vous -issez
ils -issent
elles -issent

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

finirto finish
je finisI finish
tu finisyou finish
il finithe finishes
elle finitshe finishes
nous finissonswe finish
vous finissezyou finish
ils finissentthey finish
elles finissentthey finish

What are common -ir verbs in French?

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

accomplirto accomplish
agirto act
avertirto warn
bâtirto build
choisirto choose
établirto establish
finirto finish
obéirto obey
punirto punish
réfléchirto reflect
remplirto fill
réussirto succeed

Quick Quiz – Written Recall

Can you fill in the blanks to complete the verbs we learned?

Test Yourself

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