ABC of French Conjugation - How To Conjugate Regular -er Verbs In The Present Tense colored letters

French Conjugation – How To Conjugate Regular -er Verbs In The Present Tense

Before we move on to learn more about French conjugation, it is important to make sure we have learnt the basics of conjugation and we know how to conjugate regular -er verbs in the present tense.

Remember, in our last lesson, we learnt that all we have to do to conjugate regular -er verbs in the present tense is

  1. Take out the -er at the end.
  2. Replace it with any of the endings below depending on the subject of the verb (the person performing the action)

 

Je                      -e

Tu                     -es

Il/Elle                -e

Nous                -ons

Vous                 -ez

Ils/Elles            -ent

 

Example:

This is how you would conjugate le verbe jouer (to play):

  • Je joue ( I play/I am playing)
  • Tu joues (You play/You are playing)
  • Il/Elle joue (He or she plays/He or She is playing)
  • Nous jouons (We play/We are playing)
  • Vous jouez (You play or You are playing — Plural/Respectful)
  • Ils/Elles jouent (They play/They are playing)

 

Please note:

The conjugated verb for ils/elles in the present tense is pronounced the same way as the conjugated verb for il/elle, just with a little more emphasis on the sound at the end.

 

Practice Time!

Let’s try making a few sentences with an -er verb conjugated in the present tense.

Step 1: Pick your verb. I choose le verbe chanter  which means <<to sing>>

 

Step 2: Decide who you want to talk about. Do you want to talk about me, you, him/her, we or they? Or do you just want to use a person’s name?

For this example, I’ll go with a name, Dave.

From our conjugation rules, Dave falls under le pronom <<il>> because if we were to have a conversation about Dave, it would go like this: Dave is a boy, he likes to blah .

And he = il

 

Step 3: Conjugate!

Dave sings/is singing = Dave chante

All we did was take out the -er at the end of the verb chanter and replace it with the appropriate verb ending.

 

Step 4: Take it all the way and make proper sentences.

  • Dave chante a l’eglise (Dave sings in the church/Dave is singing in the church)
  • Dave chante toujours (Dave always sings/Dave is always singing)
  • Dave chante quand je chante (Dave sings when I sing) — Context is important in translation as a sentence can be translated many different ways but you have to decide what translation is most fitting.

Voila!

 

Another One!

Focus Verb: Acheter (to buy)

For this exercise, we will use all the different present tense conjugations of the verb <<acheter>> to make sentences

 

  • J’achète toujours les tomates quand je vais au marché
  • I always buy tomatoes when I go to the market

 

  • Qu’est-ce que tu achètes?
  • What are you buying?

 

  • Il achète du pain
  • He is buying bread

 

  • Nous achetons de la bière
  • We are buying some beer

 

  • Vous achetez les ananas?
  • Are you buying pineapples? (This is a question because of the question mark and ‘are you buying pineapples?’ is a better way to pose a question than ‘you are buying pineapples?’)

 

  • Ils achetent du pain
  • They are buying some bread

 

I hope these exercises have helped you understand how to conjugate regular -er verbs in the present tense and make sentences with them.

 

Here’s a quick exercise to test your understanding and strength 😈:

 

Fill in the gaps and respond with the right answers in the comment box below:

  1. Ils ________ au foot (Jouer)
  2. Tous les dimanches, je ______________ à l’église (Chanter)
  3. Chez ma tante, nous ________________ toujours du riz (Manger)
  4. Vous _____________ combien de langues? (Parler)
  5. Tu ______________ de la musique? (Ecouter)
  6. Chaque matin, je _______________ dans ma salle de bain (Danser)

P.S. Use your dictionary to check out the meaning of any word you do not understand. That’s a great way to learn new words.

 

If you enjoyed this lesson, please let me know in the comment box below.

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