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.