French Present Tense Verbs -er

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Uses

Used to make general statements about things happening in the present.

Translated in 3 ways: is ___ing, ___s, does ____ (i.e. is talking, talks, does talk).

To express a close future.

He'll leave tomorrow night. Il part demain soir.

To describe a habitual action.

The sun rises every day. Tous les jours, le soleil se lève.

To describe a past action closely related to the present.

They have just come back and already the problems have started. À peine rentrés et les problèmes commencent déjà.

To express a historical fact.

Flaubert published Madame Bovary and scandal broke out. Flaubert publie Madame Bovary et c'est le scandale.

To describe past events more dramatically.

The queen moved toward the throne. La reine avance vers le trône.

When describing an action in process using être en train de with the infinitive of the verb used.

What are you doing? Qu'est-ce que tu es en train de faire?

To express an action that began in the past and continues in the present. Accompanied by depuis, il y a...que, cela (ça) fait...que.

I have lived in Nice for three years. J'habite à Nice depuis trois ans.

Regular -er verbs

examples: chanter, sauter, parler

Remove -er ending to get to the root then add proper ending for the subject:

Je: -e

Tu: -es

Il/Elle/On: -e

Nous: -ons

Vous: -ez

Ils/Elles: -ent

-e, -es, and -ent endings are silent

Je parle

Tu parles

Il parle

Nous parlons

Vous parlez

Ils parlent

-Er verbs with spelling or stem changes

Ending in -cer:

-c becomes -ç before the letter o to maintain the soft c sound.

Nous prononçons

-Ger verbs

-g becomes -ge before the letter o

Nous mangeons

Verbs ending in -e + consonant + -er

Accent grave added to first e in all but first and second person plural

Some verbs ending in -é + consonant + -er

Accent aigu over first e becomes accent grave in all but first and second person plural

Verbs ending in -e + l + -er

Sometimes take 2 ls in all but first and second person plural