Verb drill
Regular French -er verbs: present endings and a writing drill
Build parle, parles, parlons and parlent from the regular -er pattern. Practise aimer and jouer, silent endings and a second verb in the infinitive.
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In short
For a regular -er verb, remove -er and add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. With parler, that gives je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent.
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| Subject | Ending | parler | aimer | jouer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | -e | parle | aime | joue |
| tu | -es | parles | aimes | joues |
| il / elle / on | -e | parle | aime | joue |
| nous | -ons | parlons | aimons | jouons |
| vous | -ez | parlez | aimez | jouez |
| ils / elles | -ent | parlent | aiment | jouent |
The stem of parler is parl-; jouer gives jou-. Keep the stem and change the ending for the subject. Before aime, write j’aime, with elision. The forms parle, parles and parlent sound alike in ordinary speech, but their written endings match different subjects.
Verbs for your free time
Find:
What happens when two verbs follow each other in French?
J’aime la musique.I like music.
Focus: Aime is conjugated; a noun follows.
J’aime écouter de la musique.I like listening to music.
Focus: Aime is conjugated; écouter stays in the infinitive.
The subject controls the ending, even when the object is plural: Léa aime les concerts. Change the subject to two people and you get Léa et Sami aiment les concerts. In Je ne joue pas, the negative goes around the conjugated verb.
- Vous parler français.Vous parlez français.
Use the present -ez ending for vous.
- J’aime chante.J’aime chanter.
After conjugated aimer, the next verb stays in the infinitive.
Keep three special cases separate from this regular drill: aller is irregular; manger gives nous mangeons; commencer gives nous commençons. The last two spellings keep the consonant sound of the infinitive.
1 · Parler: write the six forms
- je
- tu
- il / elle / on
- nous
- vous
- ils / elles
2 · Transfer the endings
- Tu du piano ? (jouer)
- Nous la musique. (aimer)
- Vous la radio. (écouter)
- Léa et Sami français. (parler)
- On aux échecs. (jouer)
3 · Keep the second verb in the infinitive
- J’aime . (chanter)
- Nous aimons du violon. (jouer)
- Elle déteste . (attendre)