French present tense: -er verbs (je parle, nous parlons)

Je parle français et j'habite à Lyon.I speak French and I live in Lyon.

Most French verbs have an infinitive ending in -er (parler, habiter, aimer, travailler), and the regular ones all work the same way: drop -er, add one set of endings. It's the biggest, most regular group, and almost every new verb joins it. The main -er verb that doesn't follow the pattern is aller ("to go", je vais) — a common one you'll meet early.

Quick shortcut: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent on the stem (parl-).

The endings

To form these verbs, remove -er from the infinitive to get the stem, and add:

The forms in the left column go with the subject pronouns.

Four verb forms sound the same

The endings -e, -es and -ent are all silent. So the verb forms parle, parles, parle and parlent are pronounced exactly alike — /paʁl/; the pronoun in front is what tells the person apart. Only two forms have an audible ending:

• nous parlons — /paʁlɔ̃/
• vous parlez — /paʁle/

Because four of the six forms are homophones, the pronoun is what tells you the person. In speech, ils + a vowel links across: ils‿aiment /ilz‿ɛm/ vs il aime /il‿ɛm/ — the /z/ is the only clue that it's plural.

j' before a vowel

If the verb begins with a vowel or a mute h, je becomes j':

• j'aime, j'habite, j'écoute

Before a vowel, nous, vous, ils and elles link to the verb with a liaison: nous‿aimons, vous‿écoutez, ils‿aiment.

What the present tense covers

One French present covers several English tenses:

• a habit or routine — Je travaille à Paris. ("I work in Paris.")
• what's happening now — Elle regarde un film. ("She's watching a film.")
• a general fact — La Terre tourne autour du Soleil.

French has no separate present-progressive verb form: je travaille can mean both "I work" and "I'm working". To stress that an action is in progress, French can use être en train de + infinitive (je suis en train de travailler).

Small spelling changes: -ger and -cer

A few -er verbs adjust their spelling to keep the sound of the stem — only in the nous form:

• -ger verbs add an e: manger → nous mangeons (the e keeps the g soft)
• -cer verbs use ç: commencer → nous commençons (the cedilla keeps the c soft)

A separate small group makes a stem-spelling change in the silent-ending forms — some with an accent (acheter → j'achète, préférer → je préfère), some by doubling a consonant (appeler → j'appelle). The endings themselves are still the regular -er set.

Common mistakes

• ❌ je parles → ✅ je parle (the je form ends in -e)
• ❌ nous parlez → ✅ nous parlons / vous parlez (nous and vous have different endings)
• ❌ je aime → ✅ j'aime (elision before a vowel)
• ❌ nous mangons → ✅ nous mangeons (the e stays after g)
• ❌ je suis parle → ✅ je parle (no "am" + verb; the present is one word)

Quick check

Try these present-tense forms.

1. parler — je ____
2. habiter — nous ____
3. aimer — ils ____
4. travailler — tu ____
5. manger — nous ____

Key takeaways

• -er is the largest, most regular verb group; the endings are -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent on the stem.
• -e, -es and -ent are silent — the verb forms parle / parles / parle / parlent all sound the same, and the pronoun carries the person; only nous and vous have an audible ending.
• The pronoun carries the person; a liaison /z/ before a vowel marks ils / elles.
• je → j' before a vowel or mute h.
• One present tense = English "I work" and "I am working"; there's no separate progressive form (être en train de can stress an action in progress).
• -ger / -cer verbs tweak the spelling in the nous form only (mangeons, commençons).