- Er verbs

Regular – er verbs in the Present, Past, Future and

Present Conditional Tenses

- Er verbs: Present Tense

The majority of all –er verbs in French, in the Present Tense, have the same endings for je, tu, il (elle, on), nous, vous, ils (elles).

Je -eTu -esIl -eNous -onsVous -ezIls -ent

- Er verbs: Present TenseTo form your verb (to conjugate the verb) in the Present Tense, take off the –er and simply add those endings.

Je parle (I talk/am talking)Tu parles (You talk/are talking)Il parle (He talks/is talking)Nousparlons (We talk/are talking)Vousparlez (They/You are talking)Ils parlent (They are talking)

- Er verbs: Present TenseHere are two examples of exception verbs, and how they are different…

Manger (to eat) AllerJe mange Je vaisTu manges Tu vasIl mange Il vaNous mangeons Nous allonsVous mangez Vous allezIls mangent Ils vont

Exercise 1: The Present Tense

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the proper form of the verb in the Present Tense.

1. J’____ (aimer; to like) les jouets.2. Tu ____ (adorer; to adore) en avoir une.3. Il ____ (parler; to talk) aux filles.4. Elles ____ (travailler; to work) chez McDonalds.5. Nous ____ (marcher; to walk) ensemble.6. Vous ____ (regarder; to look) aux filles, ein?7. Ils ____ (poser; to ask) beaucoup de questions.8. Elles ____ (tomber; to fall) souvent.

aimeadores

parletravaillent

marchons

regardez

posent

tombent

Exercise 3: The Present TenseDirections: Use each verb to write a sentence.

1. Arriver, nous.2. Retourner, vous.3. Rester, je.4. Voyager, il5. Arrêter, ils.6. Grimper, elles7. Affronter, ils.8. Commencer, je.9. Manger, nous.10. Stopper, vous.

arrivons

retournez

reste

voyage

arrêtent

grimpentaffrontent

commence

mangeons

peut

Please note:Verbs ending in –ger are the only

verbs that retain the -ebefore adding the –ons to the 1st Person Plural (nous) of the

Present Tense(ex: ranger, plonger)

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed?

The Past Indefinite tense (Passé Composé in French) is a compound tense of verb.This means that there will be two parts to the verbs, or a mix of two different verbs.If you know the Present (le Présent in French) tense of the verbs avoir (to have) and être (to be), you are half way there

Just in case you need a reminder, here are the verbs avoir and être in their Present tense.

avoir (to have) être (to be)J’ai Je suisTu as Tu esIl a Elle estNous avons Nous sommesVous avez Vous êtesIls ont Ils sont

Please note:The verb être, when used as the helping verb for

the Past Indefinite,translates as ‘to have’.

Example:Je suis allé(e)…I have gone…

As mentioned, the Past Indefinite (le Passé Composé) is a compound tense…so you need to add something to either the verb avoir or the verb être to complete the formation of the Past Indefinite tense.What is added is known as the Past Participle (le participe passé in French).The past participle is used for every subject pronoun for the verb in question (je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles). For all verbs that use avoir as the helping verb, the past participle never changes.

Here is an example: the verb Manger (to eat) in the Past Indefinite tense would be…

J’ai mangé I ate Tu as mangé You ate Il a mangé He ate Nous avons mangé We ate Vous avez mangé They/you ate Ils ont mangé They ate

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed?

The verb Manger is one of the 99.9%of verbs that are

conjugated with theverb Avoir, which

you’ll see on the right.

To form the Past Participle for –er verbs

…drop the -er, and add -é

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed?

So you now know that there are two verbs that team up to form the Past Indefinite (le Passé Composé) tense of each verb in French.But now you need to know which verbs will use avoir and which will use être.An easy way I can explain this to you is this…Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp.Each of the letters from the good Dr. and his wife are the first letter of a verb that uses être as the helping verb to form the le Passé Composé of that verb.

Here is a list of the majority of verbs that use être as the helping verb to form the Past Indefinite tense…and you’ll have to memorize these or find another way to study them so you’ll know them

Devenir devenu (e)Revenir revenu (e)&Monter monté (e)Rentrer rentré (e)Sortir sorti (e)

Venir venu (e)Arriver arrivé (e)Naître né(e)Descendre descendu (e)Entrer entré (e)Rentrer rentré (e)Tomber tombé (e)Retourner retourné (e)Aller allé (e)Mourir mort (e)Partir parti (e)

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed?

Let’s see that in action

How is the Past Indefinite (Passé Composé in French) tense formed?

We will use the verb Arriver (to arrive) as an example, as it one of the verbs that is conjugated with the helping verb être…

ArriverJe suis arrivé (e)Tu es arrivé (e)Il est arrivé Elle est arrivéeNous sommes arrivé(e)sVous êtes arrivé(e)(s)Ils sont arrivésElles sont arrivées

You arrived early. (where ‘you’ is masculine)Tu es arrivé tôt.You arrived early (where ‘you’ is feminine)Tu es arrivée tôt.They arrived early. (where ‘they’ is masculine)Ils sont arrivés tôt.They arrived early. (where ‘they’ is feminine)Elles sont arrivées tôt.

arrivé; not feminine, not plural

arrivée; feminine, not plural

arrivés; masculine, plural

arrivées; feminine, plural

Exercise 1: The Past TenseDirections: Conjugate each of the following verbs into the Past Tense.

1. Parler, nousnous avons parlé

2. Passer, tutu as passé

3. Arriver, vous (an older man)vous êtes arrivé

4. Entre, vous (3 women)vous êtes entrées

5. Marcher, elleelle a marché

6. Tomber, Elleselles ont tombé

7. Communiquer, jej’ai communiqué

8. Tomber, ilil est tombé

9. Retourner, nous (you and four girls)nous sommes retournés/retournées

10. Marcher, ilIl a marché

- Er verbs: Future TenseThe Future Tense (le Futur Proche) is a compound tense…and the helping verb is always the verb Aller (to go) in the Present Tense.All you do, to indicate an action in the future, is use the Present Tense of the verb Aller and the immediately add the verb for the action you wish to express in the future. Take a look at this example, using the verb Parler (to talk):

Parler (to talk)

Aller + Verb

Je vais parler (I am going to talk)Tu vas parler (You are going to talk)Il va parler (He is going to talk)Nous allons parler (We are going to talk)Vous allez parler (They/You are going to

talk)Ils vont parler (They are going to talk)

Exercise 1: The Future TenseDirections: Conjugate each of the following verbs into the Future Tense.

1. Parler, nousnous allons parler

2. Passer, tutu vas passer

3. Arriver, vous vous allez arriver

4. Entrer, vous vous allez entrer

5. Marcher, elleelle va marcher

6. Aller, Elleselles vont aller

7. Communiquer, jeje vais communiquer

8. Tomber, ilil va tomber

9. Retourner, nous (you and four girls)nous allons retourner

10. Marcher, ilIl va marcher