The -re verbs occupy an awkward middle territory in French. Officially they belong to the 3e groupe — the irregular bucket — and many of the highest-frequency -re verbs (être, faire, prendre, mettre, dire, lire, écrire, boire, vivre) are genuinely irregular. But there is a sizable subset of -re verbs that does follow a regular pattern: the d-stem family, headed by vendre. About thirty -re verbs conjugate exactly like vendre, and once you know the template, you can produce them all at once.
This page lays out the regular -re paradigm with phonetic detail, walks through the no-ending 3sg form (one of the surprises of the system), surveys the d-stem family, addresses the close cousin rompre family that adds a -t in the 3sg, and shows you how to tell a regular -re verb from one of the irregulars on the page.
The endings
For any regular -re verb, drop -re from the infinitive to get the stem, then add the six endings. Note the 3sg form: it has no ending added at all — just the bare stem.
| Person | Ending |
|---|---|
| je | -s |
| tu | -s |
| il / elle / on | — (no ending) |
| nous | -ons |
| vous | -ez |
| ils / elles | -ent |
Vendre → vend- + endings → je vends, tu vends, il vend, nous vendons, vous vendez, ils vendent. The 3sg form vend is just the stem itself.
Full paradigm: vendre (to sell)
| Written form | Pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| je vends | /ʒə vɑ̃/ | I sell / I am selling |
| tu vends | /ty vɑ̃/ | you sell (informal singular) |
| il vend | /il vɑ̃/ | he sells |
| elle vend | /ɛl vɑ̃/ | she sells |
| on vend | /ɔ̃ vɑ̃/ | one sells / we sell |
| nous vendons | /nu vɑ̃dɔ̃/ | we sell |
| vous vendez | /vu vɑ̃de/ | you sell (formal or plural) |
| ils vendent | /il vɑ̃d/ | they sell (masculine or mixed) |
| elles vendent | /ɛl vɑ̃d/ | they sell (feminine) |
Je vends ma voiture, ça t'intéresse ?
I'm selling my car — are you interested?
Ils vendent leur appartement et déménagent à la campagne.
They're selling their apartment and moving to the countryside.
Nous vendons des produits bio depuis vingt ans.
We've been selling organic products for twenty years.
The "no -t" rule for d-stems
Look at the 3sg form: il vend, not il vendt. This is the central peculiarity of the regular -re paradigm. French has a general spelling rule that the third-person singular of a verb in the present must end in either -e, -t, or -d (with a few exceptions for -cre, -ttre, -ompre). The standard 3sg ending is -t, but when the stem already ends in -d, no -t is added — the -d itself satisfies the spelling requirement.
So the system is:
- Stem ends in -d (vendre, attendre, descendre, perdre, rendre, répondre): no -t added → il vend, il attend, il descend, il perd, il rend, il répond.
- Stem ends in -mp (rompre, interrompre, corrompre): -t is added → il rompt, il interrompt, il corrompt. The -d shortcut does not apply, so the verb takes the canonical 3sg -t.
Phonetically, the singular forms (je vends, tu vends, il vend) are all homophones — the -s and the -d are silent. You hear /vɑ̃/ for all three. The /d/ resurfaces in the plural forms (nous vendons /vɑ̃dɔ̃/, vous vendez /vɑ̃de/, ils vendent /vɑ̃d/), where it is followed by a vowel and therefore audible.
The d-stem family: high-frequency members
The regular -re class is dominated by verbs whose stem ends in -d. Here are the most useful members. They all conjugate exactly like vendre.
| Infinitive | Meaning | je form | il form | nous form | ils form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vendre | to sell | je vends | il vend | nous vendons | ils vendent |
| attendre | to wait, expect | j'attends | il attend | nous attendons | ils attendent |
| descendre | to go down, get off | je descends | il descend | nous descendons | ils descendent |
| entendre | to hear | j'entends | il entend | nous entendons | ils entendent |
| perdre | to lose | je perds | il perd | nous perdons | ils perdent |
| rendre | to give back, return | je rends | il rend | nous rendons | ils rendent |
| répondre | to answer | je réponds | il répond | nous répondons | ils répondent |
| défendre | to defend, forbid | je défends | il défend | nous défendons | ils défendent |
| dépendre (de) | to depend (on) | je dépends | il dépend | nous dépendons | ils dépendent |
| prétendre | to claim | je prétends | il prétend | nous prétendons | ils prétendent |
| mordre | to bite | je mords | il mord | nous mordons | ils mordent |
| tordre | to twist | je tords | il tord | nous tordons | ils tordent |
| fondre | to melt | je fonds | il fond | nous fondons | ils fondent |
| confondre | to confuse, mix up | je confonds | il confond | nous confondons | ils confondent |
| correspondre (à) | to correspond (to) | je corresponds | il correspond | nous correspondons | ils correspondent |
J'attends le bus depuis une demi-heure, il est en retard comme d'habitude.
I've been waiting for the bus for half an hour — it's late as usual.
Tu entends ce bruit ? On dirait que quelqu'un frappe à la porte.
Do you hear that noise? It sounds like someone's knocking at the door.
Je perds toujours mes clés, c'est devenu une plaisanterie de famille.
I'm always losing my keys — it's become a family joke.
Tu me rends le livre que je t'ai prêté ?
Will you give me back the book I lent you?
Ne réponds pas à ses messages, c'est ce qu'il veut.
Don't answer his messages — that's what he wants.
On descend à la prochaine station.
We're getting off at the next stop.
Ce chien mord, ne t'approche pas.
That dog bites — don't get near it.
Le chocolat fond très vite à cette température.
The chocolate is melting very fast at this temperature.
The rompre exception: keeping the -t
A small subset of -re verbs has a stem ending not in -d but in -mp or -pre. These verbs do add the -t in the 3sg, because there is no -d to satisfy the spelling rule:
| Infinitive | Meaning | je form | il form | nous form | ils form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rompre | to break, break off | je romps | il rompt | nous rompons | ils rompent |
| interrompre | to interrupt | j'interromps | il interrompt | nous interrompons | ils interrompent |
| corrompre | to corrupt | je corromps | il corrompt | nous corrompons | ils corrompent |
Il rompt avec sa copine au pire moment, juste avant les vacances.
He's breaking up with his girlfriend at the worst time — right before the vacation.
Tu m'interromps tout le temps, laisse-moi finir ma phrase.
You interrupt me all the time — let me finish my sentence.
So rompre and its compounds are the only -re verbs in the regular pattern that take -t in the 3sg. Note the 3sg pronunciation: il rompt /ʁɔ̃/ — the -pt is silent, just like the -d of il vend. The -t surfaces only in writing.
Pronunciation: where the -d comes back
The d-stem family illustrates a recurring French pattern: a consonant that is silent at the end of a word becomes audible when followed by a vowel ending.
- Je vends /vɑ̃/ — final -ds silent.
- Il vend /vɑ̃/ — final -d silent.
- Nous vendons /vɑ̃dɔ̃/ — -d- now followed by -ons, audible.
- Ils vendent /vɑ̃d/ — -d- now followed by -ent (silent ending) but the -d- itself is heard because it stands between the vowel /ɑ̃/ and the consonant cluster of the silent suffix.
This means the singular forms are homophones (all /vɑ̃/), while the plural forms are audibly distinct from the singular (vendons /vɑ̃dɔ̃/, vendez /vɑ̃de/, vendent /vɑ̃d/). The same problem and the same solution as everywhere else in French — subject pronouns are mandatory because pronunciation has lost the person distinction.
J'attends, tu attends, il attend — ils sonnent tous pareil à l'oreille.
I'm waiting, you're waiting, he's waiting — they all sound the same to the ear.
(That sentence is a joke, not natural French — it is illustrating the homophony.)
What about the -indre, -aître, -uire verbs?
A common trap: many -re verbs are not regular and do not follow the vendre template. Watch out for these endings, which signal irregularity:
- -aindre, -eindre, -oindre (craindre, peindre, joindre, atteindre, plaindre, éteindre): irregular stem alternation. Je crains, nous craignons. Belong to a separate 3e-groupe family.
- -aître, -oître (connaître, paraître, apparaître, naître, croître): irregular. Je connais, il connaît, nous connaissons. Note the circumflex on -ît- before -t.
- -uire (conduire, traduire, produire, construire, séduire): irregular. Je conduis, nous conduisons. Take -s, -s, -t in the singular and -sons, -sez, -sent in the plural.
- -prendre (prendre, apprendre, comprendre, surprendre): looks like a d-stem but is not. The 3pl is ils prennent (with double -nn-), and the -d- drops in the plural: nous prenons, not nous prendons.
- -attre, -ettre, -ottre (battre, mettre, permettre): drop one -t- in the singular. Je bats, nous battons. Je mets, nous mettons.
So an -re verb is in the regular pattern only if its stem ends in -d (with the small rompre/-mp exception). Anything else is irregular and needs to be learned individually. For a comprehensive map, see Regular vs Irregular Verbs.
Negation, questions, elision
The regular -re verbs work exactly like other verbs for negation, questions, and elision:
Je ne vends pas ma maison, c'est trop tôt pour décider.
I'm not selling my house — it's too soon to decide.
Est-ce que tu attends quelqu'un ?
Are you waiting for someone?
Vendez-vous des produits sans gluten ?
Do you sell gluten-free products?
Note the inversion form vendez-vous — straightforward, no -t- insertion needed because the verb already ends in a consonant. For the il/elle/on form with a verb ending in a vowel sound, French would insert -t- (as in parle-t-il), but this never applies to regular -re verbs because their 3sg ends in a written consonant (il vend) — though phonetically the form is vowel-final, modern French inversion adds -t- to spelling-vowel-final 3sg forms only.
Sample dialogue
— Tu attends quelqu'un ? — Oui, j'attends ma sœur, elle est en retard.
— Are you waiting for someone? — Yes, I'm waiting for my sister — she's running late.
— Vous vendez encore ce modèle ? — Non, on ne le vend plus depuis l'année dernière.
— Do you still sell this model? — No, we haven't sold it since last year.
— Tu m'entends ? — Pas très bien, tu peux parler plus fort ?
— Can you hear me? — Not really — can you speak up?
Common mistakes
Mistake 1: Adding -t to the 3sg of a d-stem verb.
❌ Il vendt sa maison.
Wrong — when the stem ends in -d, no -t is added in the 3sg. The form is just vend.
✅ Il vend sa maison.
He's selling his house.
Mistake 2: Using a regular -re template on an irregular -re verb.
❌ Nous prendons le métro tous les jours.
Wrong — prendre is irregular. The d drops in the plural: nous prenons (with no d), not *prendons.
✅ Nous prenons le métro tous les jours.
We take the metro every day.
Mistake 3: Pronouncing the silent -d in the singular.
❌ Pronouncing 'il vend' as /vɑ̃d/.
Wrong — the final -d is silent in the singular. The correct pronunciation is /vɑ̃/.
✅ Il vend /il vɑ̃/.
He sells — final -d silent.
Mistake 4: Forgetting that attendre means "wait for," not "attend."
❌ J'attends à l'école aujourd'hui.
Wrong meaning — attendre means to wait, not to attend. To attend a school is fréquenter une école or aller à l'école.
✅ J'attends mes amis devant l'école.
I'm waiting for my friends in front of the school.
Mistake 5: Using écouter where entendre is needed (or vice versa).
❌ Tu écoutes ce bruit ?
Possible but unusual — écouter implies actively listening. To say 'do you hear that noise?' (passive perception), use entendre.
✅ Tu entends ce bruit ?
Do you hear that noise?
Mistake 6: Forgetting répondre takes à.
❌ Je réponds la question.
Wrong — répondre is intransitive in French. You answer 'to' a question: répondre à la question.
✅ Je réponds à la question.
I'm answering the question.
Key takeaways
The regular -re paradigm has six endings: -s, -s, —, -ons, -ez, -ent. The 3sg has no ending added because the stem already ends in -d (or -mp for rompre-type verbs).
Three points to internalize:
- The 3sg has no -t. Il vend, il attend, il perd, il répond. The -d of the stem is enough. Adding -t is the most common spelling error on this family.
- The singular forms are homophones, all pronounced with silent -s/-d. Je vends, tu vends, il vend all sound /vɑ̃/. The -d- resurfaces in the plural (vendons, vendez, vendent).
- Regular -re means -dre. Verbs in -aindre, -eindre, -oindre, -aître, -uire, -prendre, -ttre are all irregular and follow different templates. The clean d-stem family is the only fully regular subset of the -re class.
Once the regular -re verbs are solid, the next step is the high-frequency irregulars: être and avoir, which are the auxiliaries for every compound tense in the language.
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