LA FAMILLE ER CONJUGAISON

Conjugating the ER family

Learning patterns is a key to mastering the conjugating of French verbs.

SUBJECT PRONOUNS DOESNT MATTER IF THE VERB IS REGULAR OR IRREGULAR: THE PRONOUNS ARE ALWAYS IN THE SAME ORDER.

I You He, she, one

Je Tu Il,

elle,on

We You They masculine & feminine

Nous

Vous
Ils,elles

REGULAR OR IRREGULAR?

First, determine if the verb is

irregular:

1) Know which are the irregulars. 2) They are usually common verbs. 3) They are unique (no pattern) & you have to study each one.

The good news about REGULAR verbs:

They only have one of three endings

They follow a pattern.

REGULAR VERBS: THE PATTERN EXPLAINED

The infinitive of most verbs in French end in the letters

This is the family we are studying in this presentation.

ER.

Lesser numbers end in the letters

IR and RE.

Most follow a regular pattern for each ending group above. Exceptions to this pattern are called irregular verbs.
So if you learn the regular patterns you will know the patterns for most verbs.

To conjugate each verb in the present tense, the last two letters (ER, IR, RE) are dropped and a different ending is added for each pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, we, you all, they).

THE PATTERN FOR VERBS OF THE ER FAMILY

1) 2)

3)

Put the pronouns in order. Find the stem of the verb by taking off the family name: ER Add your verb endings. Pronouns Je Tu The stem: parler The ending

parl parl

e es

Il, elle, on
Nous Vous Ils, elles

parl
parl parl parl

e
ons ez ent

PARLER
TAKE THE ER
OFF
AND REPLACE IT BY THE FOLLOWING ENDINGS:

E ES E ONS EZ ENT

video & prononciation Parler

Je parle Tu parles Il parle Elle parle On parle Nous parlons Vous parlez Ils parlent Elles parlent

AIMER

Prononciation & video Aimer

Jaime
Tu aimes Il, elle, on aime Nous aimons Vous aimez Ils, elles aiment

IRREGULAR ER VERBS

Irregular Stems

French stem-changing verbs are conjugated with the same

endings as normal but have two different stems. Stem-changing verbs are sometimes called boot verbs.

We will study the verbs acheter & prfrer : Change of accent in the stem And the verbs manger & commencer: Add an e or a

We will also meet Aller: the black sheep of the ER family!

FIRST, 2 BOOT VERBS

NOTE: SOUNDS LIKE THE E IN ED OR MET.

Ach

eter (to buy)

Prf

rer (to prefer)

Jach

te Tu achtes
Il,

elle, on achte
achetons

Nous Vous Ils,

achetez

prfre Tu prfres Il, elle, on prfre Nous prfrons Vous prfrez Ils, elles prfrent
Je

elles achtent

WHY ARE THEY CALLED BOOT VERBS?

The verb acheter is a so-called boot verb because all the verbs with the same stems form the shape of a boot. The verb: acheter

achtes achte
ach te

achetons achetez achtent

Another way of saying it : Nous and Vous look like their parents: ach ter

TWO MORE EXCEPTIONS IN THE ER FAMILY.

Man

ger (to eat)

Commen
Je

cer (to begin)

Je

mange Tu manges Il, elle, on mange Nous mangeons Vous mangez Ils, elles mangent

commence Tu commences Il, elle, on commence

Nous

commen ons Vous commencez Ils, elles commencent

IRREGULAR

VERB

ALLER

prononciation & video Aller

Je vais Tu vas Il va He goes Elle va On va Nous allons Vous allez Ils vont Elles vont Note: Aller is the only big exception in the ER family.