Er verbsHow to conjugate and what conjugation

means…

Er verbs are “regular verbs”Regular verbs use a stem based on the

infinitive for conjugation.Regular -er verbs have the same endings for

every verb.95% of all French verbs are regular –er verbs

(like –ar verbs in Spanish, like most verbs in English are similar)

How do I conjugate them?Let’s use Parler as an example:Drop the er…parlerAdd the following endings:Je parleTu parlesIl/Elle parleNous parlonsVous parlezIls/Elles parlent

This works for all of themLet’s now use arriver as an exampleDrop the –er…ArriverJ’arriveTu arrivesIl/Elle arriveNous arrivonsVous arrivezIls/elles arrivent

What am I saying?Right now, we are only working in present

tense.In English, we have three forms of the

present tense.In French, we have one.In English, I speak, I am speaking, and I do

speak are all forms of the present tense.In French, Je parle means any and all of those

three.

WAIT! HOW DO THEY KNOW WHICH ONE I’M SAYING?

..context…So don’t worry about it. You’re saying it

correctly. Don’t try to make it more difficult than it is.

Exceptions to the ruleUnfortunately, every rule has exceptions. Fortunately, it’s not that hard to remember

the exceptions. If a verb ends in –ger, then you leave the e on

before ons.Ex. Nous mangeons, Nous nageons NOT nous

mangons, or nous nagonsIf a word ends in –cer, then make the c a ç.Ex. Nous commençons, NOT nous

commencons

PracticeLet’s use regarder as an example:Conjugate it.Je TuIlNousVousIls

You should’ve gottenJe regardeTu regardesIl regardeNous regardonsVous regardezIls regardent

PracticeLet’s use mangerConjugate it.Je TuIlNousVousIls

You should’ve gottenJe mangeTu mangesIl mangeNous mangeonsVous mangezIls mangent

Let’s use adorerConjugate it.Je TuIlNousVousIls

You should’ve gottenJ’adoreTu adoresIl adoreNous adoronsVous adorezIls adorent

NegationYou already know how to do this, but I’m just

going to show you again.If I want to say, I am not dancing with you! I

would say,Je ne danse pas avec toi!If I want to say, I don’t eat snails! Then I

would say, Je ne mange pas les escargots.Just remember to put ne and pas around the

verb (this requires that you know what the verb is).

Putting it all togetherNow you should be able to write compound

sentences in French. See if you can figure out what these mean:

Un jour, je veux danser avec Michael Jackson, mais je ne danse pas bien. Je danse comme un pingouin.

Je suis espagnol. Je joue souvent au foot. Je joue bien parce que je suis espagnol.

Je parle chinois mais je ne parle pas français. C’est bizarre parce que je parle français maintenant.

Je lave mon scooter parce que toutes les filles pensent que je suis cool parce que j’ai un scooter.

What they saidOne day I want to dance with Michael

Jackson, but I don’t dance well. I dance like a penguin.

I’m spanish. I play soccer often. I play well because I’m spanish.

I speak Chinese but I don’t speak French. That’s weird because I’m speaking French right now.

I am washing my scooter because all the girls think I’m cool because I have a scooter.

Random ape