Les Verbes en -er (regular -er verbs)
Videos
Video couresty of Youtuber Madamenickels
Notes
- In French, we have three different "infinitive verb stems:" -er, -ir, and -re. This lesson is about how to conjugate regular -er verbs.
- A verb's "infinitive" is the non-conjugated form of the verb.
- In English, our infinitives start with the word "to," followed by the verb. Ex: to eat.
- In French, our infinitives will end in -er, -ir, or -re. Ex: parler
- Conjugation is the process of changing the infinitive of the verb so that it agrees with its subject (who/whatever is doing the action).
Ex: to speak
I speak
you speak
he/she/it/one speaks
we speak
y'all speak
they speak - In our example, "to speak" is the infinitive verb, meaning it is the non-conjugated form of the verb.
- In French, we must also change the verb to agree with the subject. There are two easy steps to conjugating:
- Drop the infinitive ending, which leaves you with what is called the stem or radical.
- Add the present-tense endings.
Present-tense endings will differ depending on the verb´s infinitive (-er, -ir, or -re).
- We will use the example parler (to speak) to show how to conjugate:
- Drop the infinitive ending/find the stem: parler > parl
- Add the present-tense endings for -er verbs
je > e
tu > es
il/elle/on > e
nous > ons
vous > ez
ils/elles > ent
- Note that in "the boot" (je, tu, il/elle/on, ils/elles forms), the verb is pronounced the same way, even though it is conjugated differently.
parle = /paRl/
parlent = /paRl/ - All regular -er verbs are conjugated this way, meaning you only need to memorize the endings and you can use almost any -er verb correctly!
- One thing to remember: If your verb starts with a vowel (accented or unaccented), the subject pronoun je becomes j' for pronunciation purposes. None of the other subject pronouns change.
Activities
Introducing -er verbs with Roule by Soprano
Introduce students to the conjugations of regular -er verbs by going through the song Roule by Soprano.
Materials: PDF of lyrics, video
Directions:
Introduce students to the conjugations of regular -er verbs by going through the song Roule by Soprano.
Materials: PDF of lyrics, video
Directions:
- First, allow students to watch the video without looking at the lyrics. As they watch, ask the students to write down a prediction about what they think the song may be about. Many of them will listen for cognates to help, so it is good practice.
- Then, give the students the lyrics (linked above). Watch the video one more time, asking students to focus on following the French lyrics. Discuss if their predictions were correct and why they think that.
- Next, in their groups, direct students look at the bolded words in the lyrics; their subjects are in italics. These are -er verbs that have already been conjugated (there are a few stem-changers, but that is not covered).
- Walk through the first conjugation, lever, with the students. Given the infinitive, lever, draw their attention to the difference between the two verbs and try to guide them to the understanding of dropping an infinitive ending and adding a new, present-tense ending. This may take a lot of work as students are used to being given answers, but encourage them to struggle through.
- After going through the first conjugation, tell the students to look at the other verbs that are bolded and see if they can identify the endings for the other subjects.
- Finally, review the information with the class, have them share the rules/endings they discovered, and clear up any misunderstandings. Students should take flipped notes for homework in order to get all of the -er rules.
Conjuguemos: Conjugation Practice Site
This site gives the student the verb and the subject pronoun and he/she must conjugate the verb appropriately. There are activities for all different infinitives in the indicative, tenses, and moods.
Directions:
Dice game for verb conjugation
Use this game to practice any verb conjugations.
Directions:
Materials: 2 different-colored dice (preferred), list of verbs
Activity courtesy of J. Rauschenburg.
This site gives the student the verb and the subject pronoun and he/she must conjugate the verb appropriately. There are activities for all different infinitives in the indicative, tenses, and moods.
Directions:
- Select the correct activity.
- Either set a time limit or check the "Don't time me!" box.
- Click the green "START" bubble.
- You will be given a verb and a subject pronoun. Type in the correct conjugation of the verb according to the given subject pronoun, then click CHECK or enter.
- The site will tell you if you got the conjugation right or wrong. If you got the conjugation wrong, it will tell you to type the correct conjugation.
- To add an accent to a letter, type the letter then click the blue "add accent" button until you reach the correct accent.
- Counties and schools can purchase teacher/student accounts to give teachers access to student progress as well as a variety of grammar activities.
Dice game for verb conjugation
Use this game to practice any verb conjugations.
Directions:
- On the board, number from 1 to 6 in two columns, A and B.
- Under the A column, put a different infinitive -er verb (or other verb) by each number. Under B, put different subjects.
- The first die determines the verb and the second determines the subject.
- One team rolls the dice. The person who rolled must give the correct verb form.
- If they say the form correctly they win the total they shook on the dice. If they don't say the form correctly they get nothing.
- Doubles gets the student another turn, but 3 doubles in a row and they lose all points from their turn.
- As a way to make the game competitive, use two sets of dice and split the class into two teams, then have the rollers compete to conjugate their verb correctly first.
Materials: 2 different-colored dice (preferred), list of verbs
Activity courtesy of J. Rauschenburg.
Additional Sites
French.About
An introduction to conjugation in general. This site uses a lot of grammar-based vocabulary, so it may be confusing for beginning students.
An introduction to conjugation in general. This site uses a lot of grammar-based vocabulary, so it may be confusing for beginning students.