Verbes en -ER

When you look a French verb up in the dictionary, you see the “infinitive” form.

The most common infinitive form is the –ER form.

Ex: Regarder (to look at)

Infinitives

The infinitive form can be changed into many different forms.

Ex. present tense for nous, past tense for vous,

This is called conjugation.

Conjugating the Verb

To conjugate an –ER verb, we take off the “–ER ” ending and what is left is the “stem”

Ex. Regarder becomes Regard

“the stem”

Pronouns Stem + endings

JeTu

Il/Elle

NousVous

Ils/Elles

RegardeRegardesRegarde

RegardonsRegardezRegardent

To the stem we add some endings

Let’s Try the verb jouer

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• Je• Tu• Il/Elle

• Nous • Vous• Ils/Elles

Let’s Try the verb jouer

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• Je joue• Tu joues• Il/Elle joue

• Nous jouons• Vous jouez• Ils/Elles jouent

verb stem

Aimer Gagner Danser

Chercher Porter

Écouter Travailler

Manger Étudier

AimGagn

Write the stems of the following verbs:

Let’s Try the verb porter

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• Je• Tu• Il/Elle

• Nous • Vous• Ils/Elles

Let’s Try the verb porter

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• Je porte• Tu portes• Il/Elle porte

• Nous portons• Vous portez• Ils/Elles portent

Let’s Try the verb arrêter

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• Je• Tu• Il/Elle

• Nous • Vous• Ils/Elles

Let’s Try the verb arrêter

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• J’arrête• Tu arrêtes• Il/Elle arrête

• Nous arrêtons• Vous arrêtez• Ils/Elles arrêntent

Let’s Try the verb entrer

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• Je• Tu• Il/Elle

• Nous • Vous• Ils/Elles

Let’s Try the verb entrer

Take off the ER for the stem…….Now let’s add the endings

• J’entre• Tu entres• Il/Elle entre

• Nous entrons• Vous entrez• Ils/Elles entrent