Present Tense Regular French Verbs
To conjugate the present tense of regular French verbs, drop the ending of the infinitive and replace it with the ending that corresponds with whom or what is performing the action. Which set of endings you should use depends on whether the infinitive ends in –er, –ir, or –re.
Present Tense Regular –ER Verbs
Examples: parler – to speak
Pronoun | Ending | Conjugation | Translation |
je | e | parle | I speak |
tu | es | parles | you speak |
il, elle, on | e | parle | he/she/it/one speaks |
nous | ons | parlons | we speak |
vous | ez | parlez | you (plural) speak |
ils, elles | ent | parlent | they speak |
Present Tense Regular –IR Verbs
Examples: choisir – to choose.
Pronoun | Ending | Conjugation | Translation |
je | is | choisis | I choose |
tu | is | choisis | you choose |
il, elle, on | it | choisit | he/she/it/one chooses |
nous | issons | choisissons | we choose |
vous | issez | choisissez | you (plural) choose |
ils, elles | issen | choisissent | they choose |
Present Tense Regular –RE Verbs
Examples: descendre – to descend.
Pronoun | Ending | Conjugation | Translation |
je | s | descends | I descend |
tu | s | descends | you descend |
il, elle, on | -* | descend | he/she/it/one descends |
nous | ons | descendons | we descend |
vous | ez | descendez | you (plural) descend |
ils, elles | ent | descendent | they descend |
* The third person singular present tense form of an –re verb is conjugated by omitting the ending of the infinitive form and not replacing it with anything else. So the third person singular of the infinitives descendre (to descend), perdre (to lose) and vendre (to sell) would be simply descend (he/she/it/one descends), perd (he/she/it/one loses) and vend (he/she/it/one sells), respectively.