French -ER Verb Conjugation

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The French -er verb conjugation is one of the basics when learning the French language. Learn how to conjugate -er verbs in French. Read our article here.

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What Are -er Verbs and Why Do They Need to Be ConjugatedSome Common -er VerbsHow to Recognise a Verb That Needs ConjugationPresent Tense -er Verb Conjugation in FrenchFuture Tense French -er Verb ConjugationImperfect Tense -er French Verb ConjugationThe Subjunctive Mood French -er Verb Conjugation ChartPronunciationConclusion

When learning to speak French, it is imperative that you learn how different verbs are conjugated so that you can write and speak sentences correctly. Without verb conjugation your speech won’t make sense or could potentially come across with a completely different meaning to what you had intended.

Verb conjugation is definitely one of the most intimidating tasks when learning a new language, but once you have mastered them, it will become second nature.

What Are -er Verbs and Why Do They Need to Be Conjugated

Conjugation is the practice of changing the form of a verb, often its ending and sometimes its stem to identify several different factors. The conjugation can change depending on who’s talking, who they’re talking about, and the tense that it is being spoken in, all of which will be addressed in this article. Many verbs will follow the same rules when being conjugated, which makes it easier to understand.

-Er verbs are probably the most common type of verbs that you will come across in the French language, and, as previously mentioned, the majority of them will follow the same rules for conjugation. Others such as aller are slightly different (the conjugation of which can be found on this website here).

Some Common -er Verbs

• Manger – (To eat)
• Chanter – (To sing)
• Danser – (To dance)
• Jouer – (To play)
• Regarder – (To watch)
• Donner – (To give)
• Trouver – (To find)
• Penser – (To think)

How to Recognise a Verb That Needs Conjugation

Verbs have a basic form in any language, in the English language, these are identified by using the word “to” in front of them for example “to have” can become “has” in the present tense and “had” in the past tense. This basic form of a verb is known as the verb infinitive, in French, these verbs are determined by the end of the word (they usually end with -er, -ir, or -re). The last two letters of the verb are how they are then distinguished, hence the -er verb term, these endings help identify conjugation patterns, although some verbs have irregular forms.

Present Tense -er Verb Conjugation in French

When speaking in present tense, it is the person who you are referring to that will affect the suffix of the verb. So, in most instances with -er verbs, you remove the “er” ending, which will leave you with the base of the verb, and then you add on the letter or letters that are required.

For regular -er verbs, the present endings are -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Watch for spelling changes: manger gives nous mangeons (with an extra e), and commencer gives nous commençons.

Future Tense French -er Verb Conjugation

For verbs such as jouer, you keep the whole infinitive and add the future endings. Some -er verbs have spelling changes in the future stem, such as acheter → achèter- and appeler → appeller-.

Seems simple enough, right? With jouer, add -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont to jouer-. The endings for nous and vous are the same as their present-tense endings.

Should you wish to learn more about the future tense, you can find more information about this topic here.

Imperfect Tense -er French Verb Conjugation

The imperfect tense is a past tense, it is used to describe habits, ongoing actions and situations in the past, such as what people were doing or what things used to be like.

To form the imperfect, take the present-tense nous form, remove -ons, and add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient: nous regardons → je regardais. Watch the spelling of -ger and -cer verbs: je mangeais but nous mangions; je commençais but nous commencions.

Should you wish to learn more about how and when to use the imperfect tense, there is another article about it here.

The Subjunctive Mood French -er Verb Conjugation Chart

The subjunctive is used after expressions of wish, doubt or necessity, and it usually follows que, for example Il faut que je mange (I have to eat).

Pronunciation

When speaking French, some conjugated verb forms sound alike, so the subject and context help you understand which form is being used. Practice both the spelling and the pronunciation.

The verb forms mange in Je mange (I eat) and manges in Tu manges (you eat) are pronounced alike despite their different spellings. The complete phrases sound different because je and tu are different pronouns.

Conclusion

There are several different tenses for verb conjugation that aren’t listed here, however, this article covers four commonly used verb forms. It is also advisable to look into which -er verbs are irregular meaning that they won’t follow the rules that have been listed above or will look slightly different to the ones mentioned, as their conjugations will need to be learnt separately. For example, the verb aller (to go), is the most recognisable irregular -er verb, the link for the article on this particular verb conjugation can be found here.