Chapter 2. The présent of -er verbs

Chanter, marcher, regarder, téléphoner, cliquer: verbs whose infinitive ends in -er form by far the largest family in the language, and it is also the family that takes in new verbs. Their présent (the present tense) fits into one single set of endings, the same for all of them, from the most common to the rarest. One -er verb alone escapes it, and that is aller: chapter 4 will deal with it along with the other irregulars.

That regularity is good news and a trap. Good news because one set is enough. A trap because four of these six forms cannot be heard: "je chante", "tu chantes", "il chante" and "ils chantent" are pronounced exactly alike. On those four forms the ear is of no use, and only finding the subject decides. That is why the previous chapter came before this one.

Some -er verbs change a letter in order to keep the same sound. Verbs in -ger take an e in front of the ending -ons: nous mangeons, nous rangeons, nous nageons. Without that e, one would read "mangons".

Verbs in -cer take a cedilla in front of the same ending: nous plaçons, nous avançons, nous commençons. Without the cedilla, one would read "placons". These two touch-ups concern only the person "nous", and nowhere else in the présent.

Three small families change their stem in the présent, and always in the same way: the change touches the singular forms and the third person plural, never "nous" and never "vous".

Verbs in -yer change the y into an i in front of a silent ending: j'essuie, tu essuies, il essuie, ils essuient, but nous essuyons and vous essuyez. Those whose infinitive ends in -ayer, such as payer and balayer, allow both spellings: je paie and je paye are both correct, and this is one of the few hesitations the language really does permit. Verbs in -eler and in -eter most often double their consonant in the same places: j'appelle, tu appelles, il appelle, ils appellent, but nous appelons and vous appelez; je jette, tu jettes, il jette, ils jettent, but nous jetons and vous jetez.

A fourth family follows exactly the same split: the verbs that are neither in -eler nor in -eter, but whose second-to-last syllable carries an e with no accent, such as peser, lever, mener, promener. That e takes a grave accent in the same places: je pèse, tu pèses, il pèse, ils pèsent, but nous pesons and vous pesez. A few verbs in -eter and in -eler line up with them instead of doubling their consonant, and acheter is the most common one: j'achète, nous achetons. Geler, which is very much an -eler verb, does the same: je gèle, nous gelons.

A simple way of not going wrong: say the "nous" form, which always keeps the stem of the infinitive, then see whether the form you are looking for is on the same side as it. "Nous" and "vous" on one side, the other four on the other.