French grammar: Regular -er verbs

Just like in English, sentences in French usually contain a verb. Verbs can be used to describe an action, a feeling or to describe something that is happening.

A verb infinitive is the basic form of a verb. For example, 'to sing' is the infinitive form of a verb. You can recognise an infinitive in English as it begins with 'to'.

In French, you can spot an infinitive by looking at the end of the verb. All French infinitives end in either -er, -ir or -re.

For example, the infinitive of the verb ‘to sing’ is chanter in French. As it ends in -er it is called an -er verb.

In French, -er verbs are the largest group of verbs so it is important to know how to use them correctly.

In French, the spelling of the verb changes depending on who is doing the action. Regular verbs follow the same pattern of spelling changes at the end of the verb.

Once you know how the spelling of an -er verb changes, you will be able to use lots of different regular -er verbs.

Can you remember some of the regular -er verbs from the video?

danser – to dance

jouer – to play

manger – to eat

nager – to swim

regarder – to look

How do you change the infinitive to explain who is doing the action?

Let's look at some examples with the verb, manger (to eat).

Firstly, subject pronouns go before the verb to tell us who is doing the action, like ‘I’ in English, which is je in French.

Then follow the rule:

Remove the -er from the end of the infinitive and add the correct ending for ‎each pronoun.

To say ‘I eat’, you use the pronoun, je (I). Remove the er from the infinitive to get the stem and add e.

manger → je mange (I eat).

If you have the pronoun tu (you), you remove the er and add es.

manger → tu manges (you eat).

If you have the pronouns il or elle (he or she), you remove the er and add e.

This makes il mange (he eats) or elle mange (she eats).

Try practising with this table. Look at the subject pronoun je and slide your finger along the table to find the correct ending for the verb.

Try this with another subject pronoun too. This pattern works with all regular -er verbs.

Useful -er verbs in their infinitive form

Here are some other useful -er verbs in their infinitive form:

chanter – to sing

dessiner – to draw

jouer – to play

jouer au foot – to play football

jouer du piano – to play piano

jouer de la guitare – to play guitar

regarder – to watch

regarder la télévision – to watch television

So you say je joue au foot – I play football.

Use the endings in the table above to help you form these -er verbs. Now you can say what hobbies you do.

Did you know?

If you want to ask someone a question, you can use the tu form of the verb using the endings in the table above.

When writing the question in French, you leave a space between the final word and the question mark.

When you are asking the question, you stress the end of the sentence by saying the last syllable in a higher pitch. This is called rising intonation.

Tu nages ? – Do you swim?

Tu danses ? – Do you dance?

Tu chantes ? – Do you sing?