How to conjugate most verbs in French

ER, IR, & RE Verbs


Verbs Ending in ER
*There are 3 main groups of verbs in French: ER, IR, and RE. Depending on what a
verb ends in, it’ll be conjugated differently with the subject pronouns.

For example: To conjugate Parler (to speak) you remove the ‘er’ and replace it with
one of the following endings corresponding with the subject pronouns.

Je parle = I speak
Tu parles = You speak
Il parle = He speaks
Ellle parle = She speaks
Nous parlons = We speak
Vous parlez = You speak (formal)
Ils parlent = They speak
Elles parlent = They speak

Most ER verbs are conjugated this way but there are some exceptions—notably CER
and GER verbs.

CER verbs like Avancer(to go) have a slight change to the Nous form to keep the
pronunciation the same. In the Nous form, the ‘c’ in CER verbs becomes Ç with the
cedilla.

GER verbs like Manger(to eat) also have in the Nous form, you keep the ‘e’ in Nous
form instead of removing it like regular ER verbs.
For example: Nous mangons is written as Nous mangeons instead.

Other ER verbs
Danser = to dance Voyger = to travel
Rever = to dream Chanter = to sing
Montrer = to show/appear Diner = to have dinner
Appeler = to call Nettuyer = to clean
Payer = to pay Compter = to count