Le Présent: Verbes Réguliers en -er

The 1er groupe — verbs ending in -er — is the largest, most regular, and most useful class in French. There are over 5000 of them, and they all conjugate the same way in the present indicative. Once you have mastered the pattern of parler, you have unlocked thousands of verbs at once: aimer, manger, danser, regarder, écouter, étudier, travailler, jouer, donner, demander, chercher, trouver, arriver, rester, rentrer, marcher, chanter, voyager, habiter, raconter, gagner, oublier, fermer, montrer, and on and on.

This page lays out the full paradigm with phonetic detail, walks through the silent-ending problem that makes spelling matter so much, surveys the most useful -er verbs for everyday speech, and shows where the orthographic subgroups (-ger, -cer, -yer, -eler, -érer) fit in.

The endings

For any regular -er verb, take the infinitive, drop -er to get the stem, and add the six endings:

That's it. No exceptions among the regulars. Parler → parl- + endings → je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent.

Full paradigm: parler (to speak)

The silent-ending problem

Look closely at the pronunciation column in the paradigm above. Four of the six conjugated forms — je parle, tu parles, il parle, ils parlent — are pronounced identically: /paʁl/. The endings -e, -es, -e, -ent are all silent.

Only two forms are audibly distinct:

• nous parlons /paʁlɔ̃/ — the -ons is pronounced.
• vous parlez /paʁle/ — the -ez is pronounced /e/.

This four-way homophony is why French requires a subject pronoun in every sentence. A sentence like parle français is not a complete statement — it's an imperative ("Speak French!"). To say "I speak French" you must include je: je parle français.

Liaison: when silent endings come back to life

The "silent" endings of -er verbs are not always silent. When the verb is followed by a word starting with a vowel sound, French may insert a liaison consonant from the otherwise-silent ending.

The most common case: a verb beginning with a vowel, preceded by nous, vous, ils, elles. The final -s of those pronouns triggers a /z/ liaison:

• nous arrivons → /nu‿zaʁivɔ̃/ — "we arrive"
• vous écoutez → /vu‿zekute/ — "you listen"
• ils aiment → /il‿zɛm/ — "they love"
• elles habitent → /ɛl‿zabit/ — "they live"

Within the verb form itself, the -ent of the 3pl is never pronounced as a separate syllable, even before a vowel. Ils parlent à → /il paʁl a/, not /il paʁlɛnt a/.

Elision: je → j' before a vowel

Before a verb starting with a vowel or silent h, the pronoun je contracts to j'. This is mandatory in writing as well as speech:

• je aime → j'aime — "I love"
• je habite → j'habite — "I live"
• je écoute → j'écoute — "I am listening"

The same elision applies to me, te, se, le, la, ne, de, que before vowels. Tu, il, on, nous, vous, ils, elles do not elide — only je among the subject pronouns.

High-frequency -er verbs (your first 20)

Here are 20 -er verbs that account for an enormous share of everyday speech. Memorise the list and you can start producing real sentences immediately:

Question formation in the présent

There are three ways to ask a yes/no question with an -er verb in the present, ranked by formality:

Intonation (informal)

Just say the affirmative sentence with rising intonation. This is by far the most common in spoken French:

Est-ce que (neutral)

Add est-ce que at the start. Works in both speech and writing, with no register issues:

(Note the elision: est-ce que + elle → est-ce qu'elle.)

Inversion (formal)

Subject and verb swap places, joined by a hyphen. Used in writing, formal speech, and certain fixed expressions:

For il/elle/on with a verb ending in a vowel, French inserts a -t- for euphony: Parle-t-il français ?, Aime-t-elle le café ?. This -t- has no grammatical function — it just prevents two vowels from colliding.

Negation: ne... pas

To negate a verb in the present, wrap ne... pas around it:

(Note: ne elides to n' before a vowel.)

In casual speech, French speakers regularly drop the ne: je parle pas espagnol, on habite pas à Paris. This is universal in everyday spoken French but should not appear in formal writing.

The orthographic subgroups (cross-reference)

A small number of -er verbs apply spelling adjustments to keep the pronunciation consistent. These are not "irregular" — they are spelling-driven, and they follow strict rules:

• -ger verbs (manger, voyager, partager): insert e before -ons. Nous mangeons, not mangons.
• -cer verbs (commencer, lancer, placer): c → ç before -ons. Nous commençons.
• -yer verbs (employer, payer, ennuyer): y → i before silent e. J'emploie, but nous employons.
• -eler / -eter verbs (appeler, jeter): double the consonant before silent e. J'appelle, je jette; but nous appelons, nous jetons. A subset (acheter, geler) takes è instead.
• é → è verbs (espérer, préférer, répéter): é → è before silent e. J'espère, but nous espérons.
• silent-e → è verbs (lever, mener, peser): silent e → è before silent e. Je lève, but nous levons.

For a full treatment, see Orthographic Changes in -er Conjugations.

The big irregular: aller

There is one -er verb that does not follow the regular pattern: aller (to go). It is the only irregular -er verb in French, and its forms must be memorised separately:

Notice that aller uses three different stems (v-, all-, vont) — a clear sign that it is not part of the regular -er paradigm. See the aller page for full coverage.

Sample dialogue

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Pronouncing the silent endings.

Mistake 2: Forgetting elision (je → j').

Mistake 3: Dropping the subject pronoun.

Mistake 4: Adding -s to the je form.

Mistake 5: Confusing the 1pl and 2pl forms.

Mistake 6: Forgetting orthographic adjustments.

Key takeaways

The regular -er paradigm is the single highest-leverage piece of French grammar. One pattern (-e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent) covers thousands of verbs. The four homophonous forms (je, tu, il, ils) make subject pronouns mandatory and make spelling carry information that pronunciation has lost.

When you encounter a new French verb, your default assumption should be that it conjugates like parler. The vast majority of the time, you will be right.