 | Online French grammar - Verb tables |
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| Group 1 verbs: verbs in -er . Verbs with an infinitive ending in -er are the most common standard category of verbs in French. They have mostly evolved from Latin verbs ending in -are . With the exception of the verbs aller and envoyer all French verbs whose infinitive is formed with the -er ending are conjugated regularly or with very small variations.. Sample verb porter - to wear or to carry This is the standard model. Variations: Slight variations on the standard model occur with verbs ending in: -cer and -ger , examples foncer, manger -é*er and e*er - examples répéter, procéder, appeler, harceler, protéger -ier - example modifier -oyer - example tutoyer See below for details. Note: For each tense, a sample English equivalent is given for the first person singular. Table 1.
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Further subjunctive cases - such as a pluperfect subjunctive - can be formed, though are very rarely used in modern French. Examples: He's wearing a green shirt. - Il porte une chemise verte The men were carrying a very heavy trunk. Les hommes portaient une malle très lourde.. Carry it !! Portez le ! She may be wearing a red dress this evening. Il se peut qu'elle porte une robe rouge ce soir. She may have been wearing a red dress that evening. Il se peut qu'elle ait porté une robe rouge ce soir-là. Variations on the standard model ► Type 1. -cer and -ger , examples foncer, manger Verbs in -cer and -ger need to add an e before endings starting with o, in order to soften the consonant: Example: manger - present tenseJe mange, tu manges il mange, nous mangeons, vous mangez, ils mangent ► Type 2. -é*er or -e*er- examples répéter, procéder, appeler, harceler, protéger ( * represents any consonant) With verbs in -é*er, the é becomes an è before the endings -e and -ent Example: répéter - present tense Je répète, tu répètes il répète, nous répétons, vous répétez, ils répètent With verbs in -e*er, before the endings -e and -ent, either the consonant is doubled, or the preceding e becomes an è Example: s'appeler - present tenseje m'appelle tu t'appelles il/elle s'appelle nous nous appelons vous vous appelez, ils/elles s'appellent Example: geler - present tense je gèle, tu gèles, il gèle, nous gelons, vous gelez, ils gèlent Example: se promener - present tense je me promène, tu te promènes, ...... nous nous promenons ...... ils se promènent Note; some verbs combine features of both type 1 and type 2: example protéger. ► Type 3 -ier - example modifier The only small difference here is that the i is dropped before endings already starting with an i (in other words before the imperfect endings -ions and -iez) So the first person plural imperfect tense of modifier is:nous modifions, not nous modifiions ► Type 4 -oyer - example tutoyer With verbs in -oyer, before the endings starting with an -e (except -ez) , the y becomes an i Example: tutoyer - present tense Je tutoie, tu tutoies, il tutoie, nous tutoyons, vous tutoyez, ils tutoient. The verb envoyer has further irregularities in the future tenses : j'enverrai, etc.
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