French verbs: the present tense

What you will learn

How to say "I am", "you have" and "we speak" in French. After this guide you will conjugate être, avoir and regular -er verbs in the present tense, and build simple sentences with them.

Key ideas

1. French verbs change with the person. Unlike in English, each person gets its own ending: je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, elles parlent.
2. Regular -er verbs follow one pattern. Remove -er from the infinitive (parler → parl-) and add the endings: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. The same endings work for hundreds of verbs (aimer, écouter, jouer, travailler…).
3. être and avoir are irregular — memorise them. They are the two most used French verbs and appear inside many other forms, so they are worth learning by heart first.

Worksheet

1. Conjugate jouer (to play) for all six persons.
2. Fill in: "Nous ___ deux enfants et vous ___ un chat." (avoir)
3. Translate: "I listen, you work, she plays, we speak."
4. Spot the mistake and correct it: "Je es à la maison."

Review — check yourself

• Can you say the six forms of être from memory in order?
• Do you know what the -ent ending sounds like? (Silent!)
• Can you build one sentence about your day using être and one using avoir?

Words to remember

Infinitive

The unchanged verb form: parler, être, avoir.

Radical

The stem left after removing the ending: parl- in parler.

Conjugation

Changing the verb ending to match the person.