Verb drill
Marcher and courir: walking, running and present-tense practice
Practise marcher and courir in the present tense. Learn route phrases, aller à pied and marcher meaning “work”, then complete forms and short sentences.
- A1
- 12 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the A1 notebook →
In short
Marcher means to walk; courir means to run. Say Je marche jusqu’à la gare for walking to the station and Je cours pour attraper le bus for running to catch the bus. With a device, marcher means to work: Mon téléphone marche.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Subject | marcher | courir |
|---|---|---|
| je | marche | cours |
| tu | marches | cours |
| il / elle / on | marche | court |
| nous | marchons | courons |
| vous | marchez | courez |
| ils / elles | marchent | courent |
Marcher follows the regular -er pattern. Courir has nous courons, with no -iss-. Watch the final letters in je cours and il court. The infinitive is courir, but the present form after vous is courez.
Where are you going?
Find:
How do you use marcher and courir with a place?
marcher dans le parcto walk in the park
Focus: where the walking happens
Je marche dans le parc après le travail.
I walk in the park after work.
courir jusqu’au pontto run as far as the bridge
Focus: the endpoint
Nous courons jusqu’au pont.
We run as far as the bridge.
courir pour attraper le busto run to catch the bus
Focus: why someone runs
Elle court pour attraper le bus.
She runs to catch the bus.
Je vais au travail à pied.
I walk to work.
Aller à pied means going on foot. It is another everyday way to describe walking somewhere.
- Lou
On marche jusqu’au parc ?
Shall we walk to the park?
- Max
Oui. Je prends mon téléphone pour trouver le chemin.
Yes. I’ll take my phone to find the way.
- Lou
Il marche maintenant ?
Does it work now?
- Max
Oui, il marche très bien.
Yes, it works very well.
Now write the forms
Complete each form in the present. In the sentences, use the verb in the hint. The subjects change, but the route phrases stay in place. For the phone, choose the same verb as for walking: the subject gives it the meaning “works”.
1 · Courir: six present forms
- je
- tu
- il / elle / on
- nous
- vous
- ils / elles
2 · Walking, running or working
- Nous jusqu’au parc. (marcher)
- Elle pour attraper le bus. (courir)
- Vous le long du canal. (courir)
- Les enfants avec leurs parents. (marcher)
- Mon téléphone très bien. (marcher)
- Tu jusqu’au pont. (courir)