The three French verb groups and the

present tense
A verb can be divided into a STEM (called “radical” in French) and
an ENDING (called “terminaison” in French). The stem indicates which verb it
is, while the ending indicates the mood, the tense, the person and the number.

 Ex : parler → radical = parl- ; terminaison = -er

 Ex : parles → radical = parl- ; terminaison = -es

In French also there are regular verbs (“verbes réguliers“), verbs which stem
is fixed for all the conjugations. Verbs which stem goes through many
modifications are considered irregular verbs (“verbes irréguliers“

Think of all the things you can possibly do in one day, that’s also a lot
of verbs to conjugate ! To simplify things, French has classified
regular verbs into three groups, based on the ending of their
infinitives : -er (manger to eat), -ir (finir to finish), -re (attendre to
wait). Each verb groups follows a pattern of conjugation for every
tense. In this lesson you will learn how to recognize the verb groups
using infinitives, and their pattern of conjugation in the present tense.

Le présent de l’indicatif

The French present tense, also known as the present indicative, is fairly similar to the English
simple present, but there are some key differences. The French present tense can talk about
any of the following:

1. Current actions or states of being

Je travaille. I’m working.
Il est en retard. He’s late.
2. Habitual actions or states of being
Oui, je travaille le dimanche. Yes, I do work on Sundays.
Il est toujours en retard. He’s always late.
3. Actions which are about to occur
Je travaille demain. I’m working tomorrow.
 Il arrive sur-le-champ. He’ll be right here.
4. Absolute or general truths
Le soleil se lève à l’est. The sun rises in the east.
L’eau est essentielle à la vie. Water is essential to life.
5. Conditions in likely situations
Si tu veux, tu peux dîner avec moi. If you want, you can have dinner with
me.
Je vais le renvoyer s’il est en retard I’m going to fire him if he’s late
demain. tomorrow.
 Auxiliaires être et avoir au présent de l’indicatif

 The “first group” : -er verbs

More than 80 percent of French verbs are -er verbs. It’s great for you,
because after you know their pattern of conjugation in the present
tense, you can pretty much conjugate 80 percent of French verbs !

To conjugate a regular -er verb, drop the -er of the infinitive to get the
stem ( le radical in French). Then add the six present tense endings
specific to -er verbs : -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. That’s it… easy !

The endings (-e, -es, -e, and -ent) are all silent. The only endings that
are pronounced are the nous (-ons) and the vous (-ez) endings. The
four silent endings form a boot shape in the verb conjugation.

Verbs with an infinitive ending in -er belong to the first group

(excepted “aller” which belongs to the 3rd group)

Warning : Aller (to go) is a very common verb, and it looks like a
regular -er verb, but it is not, aller is actually a irregular verb and
belongs to the third group (see below).
 Aimer (to like) Chanter (to sing) Jouer (to play)

je chante
j’aime tu chantes je joue
tu aimes tu joues
il/elle/on chante
il/elle/on aime il/elle/on joue
nous chantons
nous jouons
nous aimons
vous chantez vous jouez
vous aimez ils/elles jouent
ils/elles chantent
ils/elles aiment

 The “second group” : -ir verbs

The -ir verb group is the second most common verb type. To form the
present tense of a regular -ir verb, drop the -ir of the infinitive to get
the stem for the present tense conjugation. Then add the present tense
endings specific to -ir verbs: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent.

Not all verbs ending in -ir follow this pattern,however. Irregular -

ir verbs include ouvrir, partir, sortir, and dormir.

To make sure that an –ir verb belongs to the second group you have to
look to its present of the subject pronoun “We” means “ Nous” , if it
ends with -issons this verb belongs to the second group and follows
the pattern you just learned, otherwise it’s a third group verb…

 Les verbes du 2ème groupe au présent :

Listen carefully to the pronunciation of the verbs in the following
dialogue. In particular, note the difference in the pronunciation of
one s (pronounced as /z/) and two ss (pronounced as /s/) in the verb
'choisir.'

 The “third group” : the irregular verbs

Here are all the verbs that don’t belong to the first or second groups
because they are actually irregular. This third group can be divided
into four sub-categories : irregular verbs in -ir, verbs in -oir, verbs
in -re, and the verb aller (to go).

Unfortunately there are no general pattern here so you will have to

learn those verbs one by one… However some -dre verbs
like attendre (to wait) or vendre (to sell) do follow a certain pattern :
for those verbs drop the -dre then add the six endings -ds, -ds, -d, -
dons, -dez, -dent. But be careful because some -dre verbs
like prendre (to take) or éteindre (to switch off) don’t follow this
pattern…
O uvr ir ( to Mour ir (to Vendre (to Attendre (to Savoir (to Éteindre (to
op e n) die) sell) wait) know) switch off)

j’ouvre je meurs je vends j’attends je sais j’éteins

tu ouvres tu meurs tu vends tu attends tu sais tu éteins
il/elle/on il/elle/on il/elle/on il/elle/on il/elle/on il/elle/on
ouvre meurt vend attend sait éteint
nous nous nous nous nous nous
ouvrons mourons vendons attendons savons éteignons
vous vous vous vous vous vous
ouvrez mourez vendez attendez savez éteignez
ils/elles ils/elles ils/elles ils/elles ils/elles ils/elles
ouvrent meurent vendent attendent savent éteignent