French · Rung 6 of 26

Present tense

Three groups. The -er verbs are eighty per cent of them and hold no surprises: parle, parles, parle, parlons, parlez, parlent — and the first four sound identical. The second-group -ir verbs insert -iss- in the plural: finis, finis, finit, finissons, finissez, finissent. The third group is everything else, and it holds the commonest verbs, irregular precisely because they are common: être, avoir, aller, faire, pouvoir, vouloir, venir, prendre. And one structural point: the subject pronoun cannot be dropped. “I speak” is je parle, never bare parle, because without it the forms would be indistinguishable by ear.

Where this sits

Comes after
What isn't pronounced
Opens up
Negation: ne… pas, C'est, il y a and questions, Passé composé, Simple future and futur proche

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. Nous ___ la musique.

    • aiment
    • aimes
    • aime
    • aimons

    Why nous aimons. First group (-er): -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. The first three and the last sound identical. The forms are aime, aimes, aime, aimons, aimez, aiment, and the first four sound identical: the person is told by the pronoun, which is why it cannot be dropped.

    easier

  2. J'___ en retard.

    • arrive
    • arrivez
    • arrivons
    • arrivent

    Why je arrive. First group (-er): -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. The first three and the last sound identical. The forms are arrive, arrives, arrive, arrivons, arrivez, arrivent, and the first four sound identical: the person is told by the pronoun, which is why it cannot be dropped.

    in between

  3. Nous ___ au cinéma.

    • vont
    • vas
    • vais
    • allons

    Why nous allons. An irregular verb: its forms have to be memorised, and they are the commonest verbs precisely because they are irregular. The forms are vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont, and the first four sound identical: the person is told by the pronoun, which is why it cannot be dropped.

    harder