Present Tense of -er Verbs in French: Endings, Examples and Common Mistakes

To form the French present tense of -er verbs, remove -er from the infinitive and add one of six endings: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. You use it for habits, facts, actions happening right now and near-future plans. It covers both English I work and I am working. Most French verbs end in -er, so this one pattern gives you hundreds of verbs at once.

What counts as an -er verb

An -er verb is any verb whose infinitive (dictionary form) ends in -er. Here are some of the most useful ones at A1:

Verb	Meaning	Verb	Meaning
parler	to speak	écouter	to listen (to)
aimer	to like, to love	regarder	to watch, to look at
habiter	to live (in a place)	jouer	to play
travailler	to work	chercher	to look for
manger	to eat	arriver	to arrive
étudier	to study	rester	to stay

There is one big exception. Aller (to go) ends in -er but is completely irregular: je vais, tu vas, il va… You will find it in our guide to the present tense of irregular verbs.

Form: the six endings

Step 1: find the stem

Take the infinitive and remove -er. What is left is the stem:

• parler → parl-
• travailler → travaill-
• étudier → étudi-

Step 2: add the ending

Subject	Ending	parler	English
je	-e	je parle	I speak
tu	-es	tu parles	you speak (informal)
il / elle / on	-e	il parle	he / she / one speaks
nous	-ons	nous parlons	we speak
vous	-ez	vous parlez	you speak (formal or plural)
ils / elles	-ent	ils parlent	they speak

A few notes on the subjects:

• Tu is for one person you know well. Vous is for one person you address formally, or for more than one person.
• On literally means one or people, but in everyday French it usually means we. It always takes the il/elle form: On regarde un film ce soir. — We’re watching a film tonight.
• Ils is for a group of men or a mixed group. Elles is only for an all-female group.

Examples:

• Je travaille dans un bureau. — I work in an office.
• Tu parles très bien français. — You speak French very well.
• Nous étudions l’anglais à l’université. — We study English at university.
• Elles jouent au tennis le samedi. — They play tennis on Saturdays.

Je becomes j’ before a vowel or a silent h

When the verb starts with a vowel or a silent h, je drops its e and becomes j’:

Subject	aimer	habiter
je	j’aime	j’habite
tu	tu aimes	tu habites
il / elle / on	elle aime	elle habite
nous	nous aimons	nous habitons
vous	vous aimez	vous habitez
ils / elles	ils aiment	ils habitent

• J’habite à Marseille. — I live in Marseille.
• J’écoute un podcast. — I’m listening to a podcast.

Pronunciation: four forms, one sound

The endings -e, -es and -ent are silent. This means je parle, tu parles, il parle and ils parlent all sound exactly the same: like “parl”. Only two endings are pronounced:

• -ons sounds like a nasal “on”: nous parlons
• -ez sounds like “ay” (the same as é): vous parlez

Do not pronounce the -ent of ils parlent. It is one of the most common beginner errors.

Liaison: before a verb starting with a vowel or silent h, the s of nous, vous, ils, elles is pronounced as a z sound. Nous aimons sounds like “nou-z-aimons”, and ils habitent sounds like “il-z-habitent”. This z sound is often the only way to hear the difference between il aime (he likes) and ils aiment (they like).

Negative form

To make the verb negative, put ne before it and pas after it. Ne becomes n’ before a vowel or silent h.

Affirmative	Negative	English
je parle	je ne parle pas	I don’t speak
tu travailles	tu ne travailles pas	you don’t work
il mange	il ne mange pas	he doesn’t eat
nous aimons	nous n’aimons pas	we don’t like
vous habitez	vous n’habitez pas	you don’t live
elles écoutent	elles n’écoutent pas	they don’t listen

• Je n’aime pas le café. — I don’t like coffee.
• Ils ne travaillent pas le dimanche. — They don’t work on Sundays.

In casual speech, French speakers often drop ne: J’aime pas le café. Write the full form in tests and formal writing. For more detail, see our guide to negation with ne … pas.

Questions

There are three common ways to ask a yes/no question:

Method	Example	Register
Rising intonation	Tu parles anglais ?	everyday, spoken
Est-ce que	Est-ce que tu parles anglais ?	neutral, all situations
Inversion	Parles-tu anglais ?	more formal, written

All three mean Do you speak English? Two small rules:

• Est-ce que becomes est-ce qu’ before a vowel: Est-ce qu’il travaille aujourd’hui ? — Is he working today?
• With inversion, il / elle / on forms of -er verbs end in a vowel. French adds -t- between the verb and the pronoun: Parle-t-elle français ? — Does she speak French?

The guide to asking questions in French covers question words like où, quand and pourquoi.

Spelling changes in some -er verbs

The endings never change. However, some verbs make a small change to the stem to keep their pronunciation regular.

Verb type	Example	Change	Forms
-ger	manger	add e before -ons	nous mangeons
-cer	commencer	c → ç before -ons	nous commençons
e + consonant + er	acheter	e → è	j’achète, nous achetons
é + consonant + er	préférer	é → è	je préfère, nous préférons
-eler / -eter (some)	appeler	double the consonant	j’appelle, nous appelons
-yer	envoyer	y → i	j’envoie, nous envoyons

The first two changes affect only the nous form. They keep the soft g and soft c sounds. Nous mangons would be pronounced with a hard g, like in gone.

The last four changes affect je, tu, il/elle/on and ils/elles, but not nous or vous:

• Tu achètes du pain ? — Are you buying bread?
• Vous achetez des fruits. — You’re buying fruit.
• Je préfère le thé. — I prefer tea.
• Je m’appelle Léa. — My name is Léa.

When to use the present tense

Habits and routines

• Je travaille du lundi au vendredi. — I work from Monday to Friday.
• Nous mangeons à midi. — We eat at noon.

Actions happening now

French has no separate continuous tense, so the present describes what is happening at this moment.

• Chut, je téléphone à ma mère. — Shh, I’m phoning my mum.
• Les enfants regardent la télé. — The children are watching TV.

Facts and timetables

• Le magasin ferme à 19 heures. — The shop closes at 7 p.m.
• Le train arrive à 8 h 15. — The train arrives at 8:15.

Near-future plans

• Demain, je travaille à la maison. — Tomorrow I’m working from home.

Actions that started in the past and continue: depuis

Where English uses have been … for, French uses the present with depuis:

• J’étudie le français depuis six mois. — I have been studying French for six months.

Signal words

These words and phrases often appear with the present tense:

French	English
tous les jours	every day
souvent	often
toujours	always
d’habitude	usually
le samedi	on Saturdays
maintenant	now
en ce moment	at the moment
depuis	since, for

• D’habitude, je regarde les infos le soir. — I usually watch the news in the evening.

French present vs English present

English has several present forms, but French has just one.

English	French
I play / I am playing / I do play	je joue
Do you work? / Are you working?	Tu travailles ?
She doesn’t live here.	Elle n’habite pas ici.

There is no French equivalent of do / does in questions and negatives. There is also no être + verb structure for I am …ing. The single verb form does the whole job. For être itself, see the guide to être and avoir.

Common mistakes

• ✗ Je suis parle français. → ✓ Je parle français. — The present uses one verb. Do not add être to copy I am speaking.
• ✗ Je aime le chocolat. → ✓ J’aime le chocolat. — Je becomes j’ before a vowel or silent h.
• ✗ Tu parle anglais ? → ✓ Tu parles anglais ? — The tu form always ends in -s, even though you can’t hear it.
• ✗ Ils parlont. → ✓ Ils parlent. — The ils/elles ending for -er verbs is -ent. The -ont ending belongs to irregular verbs like ils ont and ils vont.
• ✗ Vous parlé. → ✓ Vous parlez. — The two sound the same, but the vous ending is -ez. Parlé is a past participle.
• ✗ Nous mangons. → ✓ Nous mangeons. — -ger verbs keep an e before -ons.
• ✗ J’achete. → ✓ J’achète. — Acheter takes è in every form except nous and vous.
• ✗ Je ne parle français. → ✓ Je ne parle pas français. — Negation needs both ne and pas.
• ✗ J’alle au cinéma. → ✓ Je vais au cinéma. — Aller is irregular and does not follow the -er pattern.

Quick check

Put the verb in brackets into the correct present-tense form.

1. Tu ___ (habiter) à Paris ?
2. Nous ___ (manger) au restaurant ce soir.
3. Elles ___ (écouter) la radio.
4. ___ (je / aimer) le football.
5. Vous ___ (acheter) des fruits.

Answers

1. Tu habites à Paris ? — Do you live in Paris?
2. Nous mangeons au restaurant ce soir. — We’re eating at a restaurant tonight. (Keep the e before -ons.)
3. Elles écoutent la radio. — They’re listening to the radio. (The -ent is silent.)
4. J’aime le football. — I like football. (Je becomes j’.)
5. Vous achetez des fruits. — You’re buying fruit. (No accent in the vous form.)

Next step

Now practise the endings until they become automatic. Test yourself with our A1 Present Tense of -er Verbs test, and review any items you miss using the tables above. Once you can conjugate regular -er verbs without hesitating, move on to the present tense of irregular verbs such as aller, faire and prendre. You can also browse all our French A1 tests to build your beginner grammar step by step.