The French Present Tense: When to Use and How to Conjugate

Every French learner starts with the present tense before moving to the future or past tense.

The present tense in French is used for actions that are happening in the present (i.e. actions that are currently happening as a speaker speaks).

With this simple guide, you’ll learn when to use the French present tense, how to conjugate regular and irregular verbs and will also find a list of resources at the end of this post to help you study French tenses. 

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When to Use the French Present Tense

The present tense can be used for habitual actions. This happens in English also, and we can determine a habitual action by a trigger word that denotes continuous action.

For example, the phrase “Le mardi, je nage” means “On Tuesdays, I swim.”

Further, the present tense can be used to talk about actions that will occur in the immediate future. Like habitual actions, these immediate future actions need trigger words for context, and these trigger words have to do with time:

• Demain, je vais à la bibliothèque. (Tomorrow I’m going to the library.)
• Il arrive bientôt. (He’s arriving soon.)

The major difference, however, works in your favor! In French, there is no difference between the habitual present (I swim on Tuesdays) and the present progressive tense (I’m swimming on Tuesday).

This means that it’s more difficult for French speakers to learn English because there is no distinction between these two tenses in French, but it makes it super easy for English speakers!

Types of French Verbs in the Present Tense

In French, there are two types of verbs: regular and irregular.

A regular verb means it’s part of a group of verbs with the same ending that all follow the same conjugation patterns.

In French, these verbs are easy to find because they end in -er, -ir and -re (though some verbs with these endings are, in fact, irregular). For each ending, there are specific rules of conjugation.

Irregular verbs, on the other hand, do not follow regular verb conjugation patterns, and they have their own endings that are not only dissimilar to regular verbs, but also dissimilar to other irregular verbs.

These, unfortunately, have to be memorized, but there aren’t too many of them. Plus, irregular verbs are used fairly commonly so they are easy to learn.

Regular French Verbs

Like I stated earlier, regular verbs can be broken into three categories depending on their ending, and verbs with the same endings follow the same conjugation pattern.

Check it out!

Verbs that end in -er

Regular verbs that end in -er are the largest classes of verbs in French, accounting for over 12,000 verbs in the language. What does that mean for you? Well, once you learn how to conjugate one regular -er verb in the present tense, you can conjugate all 12,000!

Let’s look at how to do it using the verb parler (to speak).

To start, we want to take the -er ending off of the verb parler so that we’re left with the stem parl-.

Verbs that end in -er Endings
Je (I)	-e
Tu (you)	-es
Il/Elle (he/she)	-e
Nous (we)	-ons
Vous (you formal)	-ez
Ils/elles (they)	-ent

From there, we add on endings depending on the subject of the sentence (the person doing the speaking, in this case):

• Je parle français (I speak French)
• Tu parles français (You speak French)
• Il/elle parle français (He/she speaks French)
• Nous parlons français (We speak French)
• Vous parlez français  (You speak French)
• Ils/elles parlent français (They speak French)

The best part? With the endings in bold, you can peel the -er off of verbs like chanter (to sing) and donner (to give), add the proper endings and you’ll be using the present tense for -er verbs in no time at all!

Verbs that end in -ir

The next biggest group of regular verbs ends in -ir. Like verbs that end in -er, these verbs have their own endings that can apply to all verbs that end in -ir.

Verbs that end in -ir Endings
Je (I)	-is
Tu (you)	-is
Il/Elle (he/she)	-it
Nous (we)	-issons
Vous (you formal)	-issez
Ils/elles (they)	-issent

To conjugate in the present tense, take off the -ir ending so you’re left with the stem, and add the appropriate conjugation endings depending on the subject.

Here’s an example with the verb choisir (to choose):

• Je choisis un livre (I choose a book)
• Tu choisis un livre (You choose a book)
• Il/elle choisit un livre (He/she chooses a book)
• Nous choisissons un livre  (We choose a book)
• Vous choisissez un livre (You choose a book)
• Ils/elles choisissent un livre (They choose a book)

And like -er verbs, you can take these endings and use them for other verbs ending in -ir, like finir (to finish) and réussir (to succeed).

Verbs that end in -re

Finally, the third group of regular verbs are ones that end in –re. In order to conjugate these, remove the ending -re and add the appropriate ending depending on the subject of the sentence.

Verbs that end in -re endings
Je (I)	-s
Tu (you)	-s
Il/Elle (he/she)	-
Nous (we)	-ons
Vous (you formal)	-ez
Ils/elles (they)	-ent

Check out the examples with the verb vendre (to sell):

• Je vends la table (I’m selling the table)
• Tu vends la table  (You are selling the table)
• Il/elle vend la table (He/she is selling the table)
• Nous vendons le table (We are selling the table)
• Vous vendez la table (You are selling the table)
• Ils/elles vendent la table (They are selling the table)

Note that the conjugation for the il/elle (he/she) subject for -re verbs does not have an ending. This means that the conjugation is simply the stem of the verb.

Also, you can use this conjugation pattern for other -re verbs, such as perdre (to lose) and descendre (to descend).

Irregular French Verbs

In French, there aren’t a whole lot of irregular verbs (in comparison to 12,000 regular verbs that end in -er), but there are quite a few.

Here are the two most common irregular verbs, être (to be) and avoir (to have):

Être (to be)

This irregular verb is extremely common and means “to be.”

Je suis	I am
Tu es	you are
Il est / Elle est	he/she is
Nous sommes	we are
Vous êtes	you are
Ils sont / Elles sont	they are (masculine/feminine)

This verb is also used as an auxiliary verb to help create compound verb tenses (such as past tenses).

Here are some examples:

• Je suis avocat(e)  (I am a lawyer)
• Tu es avocat(e)  (You are a lawyer)
• Il/elle est avocat(e)  (He/she is a lawyer)
• Nous sommes avocat(e)s (We are lawyers)
• Vous êtes avocat(e)s (You are lawyers)
• Ils/elles sont avocat(e)s (They are lawyers)

Avoir (to have)

In addition to the meaning of “to have,” avoir is another auxiliary verb that is used to create compound verb tenses such as past tenses. It is also very irregular.

J'ai	I have
Tu as	you have
Il a / Elle a	he/she has
Nous avons	we have
Vous avez	you have
Ils ont / Elles ont	they have (masculine/feminine)

Let’s look at the examples:

• J’ai une radio (I have a radio)
• Tu as une radio (You have a radio)
• Il/elle a une radio (He/she has a radio)
• Nous avons une radio (We have a radio)
• Vous avez une radio (You have a radio)
• Ils/elles ont une radio (They have a radio)

Other Common Irregular Verbs in French

Check out these other common irregular verbs in the present tense.

Aller (to go)	Pouvoir (to be able to)	Vouloir (to want)	Faire (to do)
je vais	je peux	je veux	je fais
tu vas	tu peux	tu veux	tu fais
il va / elle va	il peut / elle peut	il vent / elle veut	il fait / elle fait
nous allons	nous pouvons	nous voulons	nous faisons
vous allez	vous pouvez	vous voulez	vous faites
ils vont	ils peuvent	ils veulent	ils font

But wait! There are more! Check out this link to see how to conjugate even more irregular verbs, such as boire (to drink), conduire (to drive), lire (to read), savoir (to know) and voir (to see).

Resources to Master the French Present Tense

These resources can help you practice your skills in using the French present tense:

• About.com has a fantastic resource for present tense verbs (and all those all-too-common irregulars). This website has tutorials on all French grammar topics such as verbs, nouns and sentence structure. In particular, its series on the French present tense includes written explanations, examples and videos!

• More of a book nerd? Check out the handy “500 French Verbs for Dummies” and “French Verb Tenses: Fully Conjugated Verbs.” Both of these books act as guides for French verbs, having a mixture of both regular and irregular verbs. The best part is that each verb is conjugated, and the examples allow you to learn the subtle differences between seemingly synonymous verbs.

• Last but not least, practice makes perfect, right? Check out quizzes on ToLearnFrench.com and ProProfs.com.

 

So there you have it! With this guide, you can improve your French knowledge and use the French present tense correctly every time. 

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)