French grammar · Beginner
Regular -er Verbs in French: One Pattern for Nine Verbs Out of Ten
Regular -er verbs are the biggest group in French: roughly nine verbs in ten belong to it. You drop the -er from the infinitive and add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Learn that one set of endings and you can conjugate thousands of verbs, including almost every new verb French invents.
Nous parlons français à la maison.
We speak French at home.
What it is
An -er verb is conjugated by removing the two-letter infinitive ending and attaching a personal ending to what's left. That leftover piece is the stem, and it never changes: parler gives parl-, aimer gives aim-, travailler gives travaill-. Everything else about the verb is carried by the ending.
parler → je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent. — to speak → I speak, you speak, he speaks, we speak, you speak, they speak.
How to spot it
If a French infinitive ends in -er and the verb is not aller, you can conjugate it without looking it up. The only thing to check is whether the stem needs a small spelling adjustment before certain endings.
- Je regarde la télévision. — I'm watching television.
- Tu habites où ? — Where do you live?
- Elles chantent très bien. — They sing very well.
- Vous travaillez le samedi ? — Do you work on Saturdays?
French has one present tense where English has two, so je regarde covers both I watch and I am watching. There is no separate progressive form to build.
Regular -er Verbs Quick Reference
The present-tense endings, and the same stem in three verbs
| Subject | Ending | parler (to speak) | aimer (to like) | trouver (to find) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | -e | parle | aime | trouve |
| tu | -es | parles | aimes | trouves |
| il / elle / on | -e | parle | aime | trouve |
| nous | -ons | parlons | aimons | trouvons |
| vous | -ez | parlez | aimez | trouvez |
| ils / elles | -ent | parlent | aiment | trouvent |
Common Regular -er Verbs Examples in French
Regular -er verbs doing ordinary work:
Talking and Thinking
- Je parle un peu italien.
- I speak a little Italian.
- Nous pensons partir tôt.
- We're thinking of leaving early.
- Elle explique le problème.
- She's explaining the problem.
- Ils demandent l'addition.
- They're asking for the bill.
Demander means to ask for, with no preposition of its own: on demande l'addition, not on demande pour l'addition.
Daily Routine
- Je me réveille à sept heures.
- I wake up at seven.
- Tu déjeunes avec nous ?
- Are you having lunch with us?
- On dîne vers huit heures.
- We have dinner around eight.
- Vous rentrez à quelle heure ?
- What time do you get home?
Plenty of -er verbs are pronominal, like se réveiller. The reflexive pronoun changes, the endings don't.
Liking and Wanting
- J'aime beaucoup ce quartier.
- I really like this neighbourhood.
- Elle adore les films anciens.
- She loves old films.
- Nous détestons attendre.
- We hate waiting.
- Ils préfèrent le train.
- They prefer the train.
Préférer keeps the -er endings but shifts its accent in four of the six forms: je préfère, nous préférons.
Newly Coined Verbs
- Je télécharge le fichier.
- I'm downloading the file.
- Tu scannes le document ?
- Are you scanning the document?
- On covoiture tous les matins.
- We carpool every morning.
- Elle poste une photo.
- She's posting a photo.
When French borrows or invents a verb, it becomes an -er verb. That's why this group keeps growing while the others don't.
How Regular -er Verbs Work
Two moving parts: a stem that stays put and an ending that carries the person. Most of the difficulty is in the sound, not the spelling.
Cut the -er, Keep the Rest
The stem is whatever is left after you remove the final -er. It doesn't shorten, lengthen, or shift, so once you have it you have every form of the verb in the present tense.
Nous cherchons une pharmacie.
We're looking for a pharmacy.
chercher → cherch- + ending.
Four of the Six Forms Sound Identical
The endings -e, -es, -e, and -ent are all silent. Je parle, tu parles, il parle, and ils parlent are pronounced exactly the same way, and only the subject pronoun tells a listener who you mean.
Elle travaille, elles travaillent.
She works, they work.
Silent endings: -e, -es, -e, -ent.
Nous and Vous Are the Audible Ones
Only -ons and -ez are pronounced, which makes them the two forms learners hear and produce most reliably. They're also the two that survive intact in every other tense you'll build from this verb.
Vous habitez ici depuis longtemps ?
Have you been living here long?
-ons and -ez, the endings you can hear.
The Silent -s on Tu Still Has to Be Written
Because tu parles and il parle sound the same, the -s on the tu form is easy to forget. In writing it is not optional, and it's the single most common slip in beginner French.
Tu regardes le match ce soir ?
Are you watching the match tonight?
tu always takes -es here.
The Stem Sometimes Adjusts Its Spelling
A minority of -er verbs change a letter so the stem keeps sounding right: nous mangeons keeps a soft g, nous commençons keeps a soft c, j'achète takes a grave accent. The endings are still the standard six.
Nous mangeons à midi.
We eat at noon.
Spelling bends, endings don't.
Common Mistakes with Regular -er Verbs
Incorrect: Je suis travaille dans un bureau. — I work in an office.
Correct: Je travaille dans un bureau. — I work in an office.
English builds the present continuous with a helper verb, so learners reach for être. French puts everything in the ending, and there is no auxiliary in the simple present at all.
Incorrect: Ils parlont anglais. — They speak English.
Correct: Ils parlent anglais. — They speak English.
The -ont ending belongs to a handful of irregular verbs (ils sont, ils ont, ils vont, ils font) and to the future tense. Regular present-tense third-person plurals take -ent.
Incorrect: Tu aime le chocolat ? — Do you like chocolate?
Correct: Tu aimes le chocolat ? — Do you like chocolate?
Tu aime and tu aimes sound identical, so the -s disappears from writing. It's silent, not optional.
Incorrect: Nous mangons ensemble ce soir. — We're eating together tonight.
Correct: Nous mangeons ensemble ce soir. — We're eating together tonight.
Removing the -er from manger leaves mang-, and g before o would harden. French keeps an e to protect the soft sound, exactly as -cer verbs keep a cedilla in nous commençons.
The Same Stem Across the Tenses
The reason -er verbs are worth learning first is that the stem you extract for the present tense keeps working almost everywhere else. Here is parler doing four jobs, and a look at how the endings differ.
The Present
Three verbs, one pattern. Notice that aimer starts with a vowel, so je becomes j' in the first person.
| Pronoun | parler | aimer | travailler |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parle | aime | travaille |
| tu | parles | aimes | travailles |
| il / elle / on | parle | aime | travaille |
| nous | parlons | aimons | travaillons |
| vous | parlez | aimez | travaillez |
| ils / elles | parlent | aiment | travaillent |
Travailler has a double l in its stem, which makes the -ill- sound like a y. The endings behave normally.
Imperfect, Future, and Conditional
The imperfect uses the same stem parl-. The future and the conditional are unusual in that they build on the whole infinitive, parler-, which is why every one of their forms has an r before the ending.
| Pronoun | imparfait | futur simple | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parlais | parlerai | parlerais |
| tu | parlais | parleras | parlerais |
| il / elle / on | parlait | parlera | parlerait |
| nous | parlions | parlerons | parlerions |
| vous | parliez | parlerez | parleriez |
| ils / elles | parlaient | parleront | parleraient |
The imperfect and the conditional share their endings exactly. Only the stem tells them apart: parl- against parler-.
The Compound Past
Every regular -er verb has a past participle ending in -é. Combine it with avoir, or with être for verbs of movement and pronominal verbs, and you have the passé composé.
| Pronoun | parler (avoir) | arriver (être) |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | ai parlé | suis arrivé(e) |
| tu | as parlé | es arrivé(e) |
| il / elle / on | a parlé | est arrivé(e) |
| nous | avons parlé | sommes arrivé(e)s |
| vous | avez parlé | êtes arrivé(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | ont parlé | sont arrivé(e)s |
The participle after avoir doesn't change here. After être it agrees with the subject: elle est arrivée, ils sont arrivés.
Where -er Verbs Still Surprise You
The pattern is reliable, but three things about it catch learners out, and none of them is really about the endings.
Aller is not one of them
Aller ends in -er and is the one verb in the group that ignores the pattern entirely. Its present tense is built from three different stems, so it has to be memorised on its own.
- Je vais au marché.
- I'm going to the market.
- Nous allons très bien.
- We're doing very well.
- Ils vont partir demain.
- They're going to leave tomorrow.
Envoyer is the other near-exception: its present is regular enough, but its future stem is enverr-, not envoyer-.
The imperative drops the -s
In the tu form of the imperative, an -er verb loses the -s it carries in the present. Tu parles becomes parle, tu regardes becomes regarde. The -s comes back only before the pronouns y and en.
- Écoute-moi deux minutes.
- Listen to me for two minutes.
- Regarde là-bas.
- Look over there.
- Vas-y, commence.
- Go on, start.
Vas-y and manges-en keep the -s purely so the words link smoothly in speech.
One present tense, two English ones
French has no separate progressive form, so a single -er verb in the present covers both the habit and the action in progress. If you need to insist on the action happening right now, French adds a phrase rather than changing the verb.
- Je travaille le mardi.
- I work on Tuesdays.
- Je travaille, là.
- I'm working right now.
- Je suis en train de travailler.
- I'm in the middle of working.
Être en train de exists for emphasis, but it is far less common than the English progressive. The plain present is usually enough.
Regular -er Verbs FAQs
- What are the endings for regular -er verbs in French?
- In the present tense they are -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent, attached to the infinitive minus its -er. So trouver gives je trouve, tu trouves, il trouve, nous trouvons, vous trouvez, ils trouvent. The same six endings work for every regular verb in this group.
- How many French verbs are regular -er verbs?
- Well over ninety percent of them, several thousand in total. More importantly, it's the only group that is still growing: borrowed and invented verbs like télécharger and scanner all join it, so the pattern keeps paying off.
- Why do je parle and ils parlent sound the same?
- Because the endings -e, -es, -e, and -ent are all silent. Only nous parlons and vous parlez add a syllable you can hear. In speech, the subject pronoun does the work the ending does in writing.
- Is aller a regular -er verb?
- No, and it's the only -er verb that isn't. Aller uses three different stems in the present (je vais, nous allons, ils vont) and takes ir- in the future. Every other -er verb follows the standard pattern, with at most a small spelling adjustment.
- How do I make a regular -er verb negative?
- Wrap the conjugated verb in ne … pas, eliding ne to n' before a vowel: je ne parle pas, il n'aime pas ça. The verb itself stays exactly as it was; negation happens around it rather than inside it.