French grammar · Intermediate
Stem Changing Verbs in French: The Boot Pattern and Why It Exists
Stem changing verbs are -er verbs whose stem vowel shifts when the ending after it is silent: acheter gives j'achète but nous achetons, appeler gives j'appelle but nous appelons. The endings stay completely regular; only the stem is rewritten, and always in the same four persons.
J'achète le journal, mais nous achetons rarement des magazines.
I buy the paper, but we rarely buy magazines.
What it is
French stress falls on the last syllable you can hear. When a verb's ending is silent — as it is for je, tu, il, and ils — the stress moves back onto the stem, and the vowel there opens up. French writes that change down, either with a grave accent or with a doubled consonant, which is the whole story behind this group.
appeler → j'appelle, tu appelles, il appelle, nous appelons, vous appelez, ils appellent. — to call → I call, you call, he calls, we call, you call, they call.
How to spot it
Look at where the change happens rather than at the verb: je, tu, il, and ils change, nous and vous don't. Circled on a conjugation table, those four forms make an L-shape that teachers call the boot.
- Je me lève à six heures. — I get up at six.
- Nous nous levons plus tard le dimanche. — We get up later on Sundays.
- Elle jette les vieux journaux. — She throws out the old newspapers.
- Vous préférez le thé ou le café ? — Do you prefer tea or coffee?
If a form's ending is audible, the stem is safe. That single observation predicts every change in this group.
Stem Changing Verbs Quick Reference
The four stem-changing families
| Change | Infinitive | Boot forms | nous / vous |
|---|---|---|---|
| e → è | acheter | j'achète, ils achètent | nous achetons |
| e → è | mener, lever, peser | je mène, il pèse | nous menons, nous pesons |
| l doubles | appeler, rappeler | j'appelle, ils appellent | nous appelons |
| t doubles | jeter, projeter | je jette, ils jettent | nous jetons |
| é → è | préférer, espérer | je préfère, il espère | nous préférons |
| é → è | répéter, célébrer | je répète, elle célèbre | nous répétons |
| y → i | payer, essayer | je paie, ils paient | nous payons |
| y → i | nettoyer, essuyer | je nettoie, il essuie | nous nettoyons |
Common Stem Changing Verbs Examples in French
Stem changes in ordinary sentences:
Buying, Lifting, Weighing
- J'achète toujours au marché.
- I always shop at the market.
- Tu lèves la main avant de parler.
- You raise your hand before speaking.
- Ce carton pèse trois kilos.
- This box weighs three kilos.
- Ils emmènent les enfants à l'école.
- They take the children to school.
Emmener and amener follow mener exactly: j'emmène, nous emmenons.
Calling and Throwing
- Je m'appelle Claire.
- My name is Claire.
- Comment ça s'appelle en français ?
- What's that called in French?
- Il jette la balle trop fort.
- He throws the ball too hard.
- Nous rappelons demain matin.
- We'll call back tomorrow morning.
Je m'appelle has a double l precisely because the ending is silent. Nous nous appelons has one.
Preferring and Repeating
- Je préfère marcher.
- I'd rather walk.
- Elle répète la question.
- She's repeating the question.
- Nous espérons vous revoir.
- We hope to see you again.
- Ils célèbrent leur anniversaire de mariage.
- They're celebrating their wedding anniversary.
Here the accent flips from acute to grave. The letter is the same; only its direction changes.
Paying and Cleaning
- Je paie en espèces.
- I'm paying in cash.
- Tu essaies encore une fois ?
- Are you going to try once more?
- Il nettoie les vitres.
- He's cleaning the windows.
- Nous payons à la fin du mois.
- We pay at the end of the month.
Payer and essayer allow both spellings in the boot: je paie and je paye are both correct, though je paie is far more common.
How Stem Changing Verbs Work
One cause, four effects. Everything below follows from where the stress lands in the spoken word.
The Silent Ending Pushes the Stress Back
In j'achète the ending -e is not pronounced, so the last audible syllable is the stem's. Stressed, the e becomes an open vowel, and French records that with a grave accent. In nous achetons the ending is audible, the stress moves forward, and the e goes quiet again.
J'achète, nous achetons.
I buy, we buy.
Silent ending → stressed stem → accent.
Some Verbs Double a Consonant Instead
Appeler and jeter mark the same open vowel by doubling the following consonant rather than adding an accent. There's no logic to which verb chooses which strategy; it's a spelling convention fixed by usage.
Tu appelles ta mère ce soir ?
Are you calling your mother tonight?
j'appelle, je jette — doubled, not accented.
é Verbs Flip Their Accent
Préférer, espérer, and répéter already have an acute accent. Under stress it becomes grave: je préfère, il espère. The plural restores the acute because the stress has moved off the stem.
Vous espérez une réponse rapide ?
Are you hoping for a quick answer?
préférer → je préfère → nous préférons.
-yer Verbs Swap y for i
Before a silent ending, the y would sit between two vowels and lose its consonant value, so French writes i instead: je paie, il nettoie, ils essuient. Before -ons and -ez the y is doing real work and stays.
Ils envoient les résultats par courriel.
They send the results by email.
nous payons, but je paie.
The Endings Never Change
For all of these verbs the endings are the standard -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Nothing about the group requires you to learn a new ending, which is why grammars call them stem changing rather than irregular.
Elle achète, elles achètent.
She buys, they buy.
Stem varies, endings don't.
Common Mistakes with Stem Changing Verbs
Incorrect: Nous achètons des fruits. — We're buying fruit.
Correct: Nous achetons des fruits. — We're buying fruit.
The accent belongs to the boot forms only. Nous and vous have audible endings, so the stress leaves the stem and the accent goes with it.
Incorrect: Je m'apelle Thomas. — My name is Thomas.
Correct: Je m'appelle Thomas. — My name is Thomas.
Appeler has two p's in the infinitive and doubles the l in the boot forms, giving four consonants in a row across the two syllables. Dropping one of them is the most frequent misspelling in beginner French.
Incorrect: Ils préferent le poisson. — They prefer fish.
Correct: Ils préfèrent le poisson. — They prefer fish.
The second é becomes è in the third-person plural, because the -ent ending is silent and the stress falls on that syllable. It's easy to change the first accent by mistake or to change neither.
Incorrect: Nous payons, donc nous paions demain aussi. — We're paying, so we'll pay tomorrow too.
Correct: Nous payons, donc nous payons demain aussi. — We're paying, so we'll pay tomorrow too.
The y becomes i only before a silent ending. Nous and vous keep the y, and writing paions produces a form that exists nowhere in the conjugation.
Stem Changes Across the Tenses
The boot pattern belongs to the present and the subjunctive. In the future and conditional the picture changes: some families carry the change into every person, and others drop it entirely.
The present, family by family
Four verbs, four strategies, one shape. Notice that rows one, two, three, and six change and rows four and five don't.
| Pronoun | acheter | appeler | préférer | payer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | achète | appelle | préfère | paie |
| tu | achètes | appelles | préfères | paies |
| il / elle / on | achète | appelle | préfère | paie |
| nous | achetons | appelons | préférons | payons |
| vous | achetez | appelez | préférez | payez |
| ils / elles | achètent | appellent | préfèrent | paient |
Ils paient is pronounced exactly like je paie. The plural -ent is silent, so the two forms are homophones.
The future and conditional
Here the families part company. Acheter, appeler, and payer keep their change in every single person, because the future stem is built on the changed form. Préférer keeps its acute accent throughout in traditional spelling.
| Pronoun | acheter | appeler | préférer | payer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | achèterai | appellerai | préférerai | paierai |
| tu | achèteras | appelleras | préféreras | paieras |
| il / elle / on | achètera | appellera | préférera | paiera |
| nous | achèterons | appellerons | préférerons | paierons |
| vous | achèterez | appellerez | préférerez | paierez |
| ils / elles | achèteront | appelleront | préféreront | paieront |
The 1990 reform allows je préfèrerai with a grave accent, and you will see it. The acute spelling remains the safer choice in exams.
The imperfect and the compound past
Neither tense has any stem change at all. The imperfect is built on the nous form, which sits outside the boot, and the participle is simply the infinitive with -é.
| Pronoun | imparfait (acheter) | imparfait (appeler) | passé composé (acheter) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | achetais | appelais | ai acheté |
| tu | achetais | appelais | as acheté |
| il / elle / on | achetait | appelait | a acheté |
| nous | achetions | appelions | avons acheté |
| vous | achetiez | appeliez | avez acheté |
| ils / elles | achetaient | appelaient | ont acheté |
One l throughout the imperfect of appeler, and no accent throughout the imperfect of acheter. The past tenses are the easy ones here.
Where Else the Boot Shows Up
The boot isn't only a present-tense phenomenon. Two other places use exactly the same shape, which is worth knowing because it saves learning them separately.
The present subjunctive
The subjunctive has silent endings in the same four persons, so the same stem change appears. Que j'achète and qu'ils achètent take the accent; que nous achetions and que vous achetiez don't.
- Il faut que j'achète du lait.
- I need to buy some milk.
- Je doute qu'ils préfèrent le train.
- I doubt they prefer the train.
- Il faut que nous achetions des billets.
- We need to buy tickets.
The subjunctive nous and vous forms are identical to the imperfect, and both sit outside the boot.
The tu imperative
The imperative takes the present tense form and drops the pronoun, so the tu form keeps its stem change and loses its -s. Achète becomes an order, appelle becomes a request.
- Achète du pain en rentrant.
- Buy some bread on the way home.
- Appelle-moi ce soir.
- Call me tonight.
- Lève-toi, il est huit heures.
- Get up, it's eight o'clock.
- Essuie la table, s'il te plaît.
- Wipe the table, please.
The nous and vous imperatives keep their plural stems: achetons, achetez.
Verbs that look like they should change and don't
A small set of -eler and -eter verbs takes the accent rather than the doubled consonant, against the general tendency. Geler, acheter, and peler belong here, and there is no rule to derive them from.
- Il gèle ce matin.
- It's freezing this morning.
- Je pèle les pommes.
- I'm peeling the apples.
- Elle achète tout en ligne.
- She buys everything online.
The reverse also happens: étiqueter and dépaqueter double their t, while acheter never does.
Stem Changing Verbs FAQs
- What are stem changing verbs in French?
- They're -er verbs whose stem vowel changes in the four forms with silent endings: je, tu, il, and ils. Acheter gives j'achète but nous achetons; appeler gives j'appelle but nous appelons. The endings themselves are entirely regular.
- Why is it j'appelle but nous appelons?
- Because the -e of j'appelle is silent, so the stress falls on the -pel- syllable and the vowel opens. French marks that by doubling the l. In nous appelons the -ons is pronounced, the stress moves onto it, and one l is enough.
- Do stem changing verbs keep the change in the future tense?
- It depends on the family. Acheter, appeler, jeter, and the -yer verbs carry the change through every person of the future and conditional: j'achèterai, nous appellerons, ils paieront. Verbs in é like préférer traditionally keep the acute accent: je préférerai.
- Is je paie or je paye correct?
- Both are accepted for verbs in -ayer, though je paie is much more common in modern writing. Verbs in -oyer and -uyer have no choice: nettoyer and essuyer always give je nettoie and j'essuie.
- What's the difference between stem changing and spelling change verbs?
- A stem change reflects a real difference in sound (j'achète against nous achetons), while a spelling change exists to keep the sound identical (nous mangeons, nous commençons). Read the two forms aloud and the answer is immediate.