Regular French verbs (first group) in the present tense
Chanter (to sing), jouer (to play), sauter (to jump)… Many French verbs end in -er. In the present tense, their ending changes with the person doing the action. How do you choose the right ending?
This lesson takes about 10 minutes. You can take a break after each part.
Before you start
Learning objectives
- I can write the right ending of a regular French verb (first group) in the present tense.
- I can make the verb agree with its subject in a French sentence.
The ending of the verb
The stem and the ending
In sauter (to jump), you keep the beginning, saut-: that is the stem. You change the end: that is the ending.
The six endings
| je | saute | I jump |
| tu | sautes | you jump |
| il, elle | saute | he, she jumps |
| nous | sautons | we jump |
| vous | sautez | you jump |
| ils, elles | sautent | they jump |
Careful: -e, -es and -ent are silent, but you still write them.
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The verb in the sentence
Who does the action?
The subject tells who does the action. The verb agrees with it: “Marina regarde” (Marina looks) · “Les enfants regardent” (The children look).
A noun or a pronoun
A noun like Marina can be replaced by elle (she); les enfants by ils (they). Write the verb as you would with the pronoun: elle regarde, ils regardent.
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Review game
Final assessment
To master the lesson, you need at least 60% correct answers.
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Summary
In the present tense, -er verbs take the endings in color:
je saute tu sautes il, elle saute nous sautons vous sautez ils, elles sautent - The verb agrees with its subject. Replace a noun with il, elle, ils or elles to find the right ending.
