You already know how to conjugate regular -er verbs from a previous lesson. In French, there are many of these verbs used. For example:
| nettoyer | to clean |
| laver | to wash |
| travailler | to work |
| acheter | to buy |
| enseigner | to teach |
| voyager | to travel |
Sometimes, the stem of -er verbs will change depending on the ending used. There are three common changes: the stem can add an -e, the y can change to an i, or the stem can add an accent mark.
Let’s look at some examples.
| je mange | nous mangeons |
| tu manges | vous mangez |
| il/elle/on mange | ils/elles mangent |
Verbs that end in -ger add an -e in the nous form. Why? To keep the sound of the g soft (like zh). If the g is placed against a hard vowel like o, it makes a hard sound (like the g in guard). When g is placed against a soft vowel like e, it makes the soft zh sound.
| je nettoie | nous nettoyons |
| tu nettoies | vous nettoyez |
| il/elle/on nettoie | ils/elles nettoient |
Notice that the y becomes i in all but the nous and vous forms when the verb is conjugated.
| j’achète | nous achetons |
| tu achètes | vous achetez |
| il/elle/on achète | ils/elles achètent |
Note that the first e in the stem takes an accent grave (è) in all forms except nous and vous when the verb is conjugated. The reason for this is pronunciation. The accent mark allows us to pronounce the e instead of “swallowing” as happens in the nous and vous forms. Listen to the conjugation of acheter again and pay special attention to how the e is pronounced.
Practice using these verbs in the next activity. Match each subject with the correct verb form.
Question
What spelling changes sometimes happen on regular -er verb stems?
Verbs that end in -ger add an -e, y will change to i, and accent marks can be added for pronunciation.
Just when you think you’ve mastered regular -er verbs, it can be frustrating to learn about exceptions. Don’t worry. With practice and patience, you’ll learn these, too.
