Use the present tense to describe what happens regularly and what is happening now. Get to grips with regular and irregular verbs and check your understanding with activities and a quiz.
Use the present tense for routine actions, current actions and current facts. For example:
Je bois du thé tous les jours. - I drink tea every day. This is a routine action. It is something that is done more than once.
En ce moment, j’étudie le français. - At the moment, I’m studying French. This is a current action, something that is happening right now. There is no continuous present tense in French, eg ‘I am doing something’, so use the present tense for this.
Elle est très grande. - She is very tall. This is a current fact about how things are at the present time.
Regular verbs
An explanation of the conjugation of regular verbs in the present tense
French verbA word used to describe an action or state of being. have different endings depending on who is doing the action. To form the present tenseA verb that describes an action that is happening now or that happens regularly, eg I eat breakfast every day., take the ending off the infinitiveThe form of the verb that has not been conjugated and is usually translated with 'to' in English, for example 'to play'. and add the following endings:
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
je
joue
finis
vends
tu
joues
finis
vends
il/elle/on
joue
finit
vend
nous
jouons
finissons
vendons
vous
jouez
finissez
vendez
ils/elles
jouent
finissent
vendent
je
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
joue
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
finis
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
vends
tu
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
joues
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
finis
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
vends
il/elle/on
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
joue
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
finit
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
vend
nous
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
jouons
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
finissons
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
vendons
vous
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
jouez
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
finissez
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
vendez
ils/elles
-er verbs (jouer – to play)
jouent
-ir verbs (finir – to finish)
finissent
-re verbs (vendre – to sell)
vendent
Using the table above, work out the present tense for the following:
Example: We finish (Nous, finir)
Nous finissons
Question
They sing (Ils, chanter)
Ils chantent
Question
I speak (Je, parler)
Je parle
Question
He chooses (Il, choisir)
Il choisit
Question
They succeed (Elles, réussir)
Elles réussissent
Although the endings change, a lot of the verbs have the same pronunciation:
