Reminder:
The present tense is used to talk about:
· a (current) fact: J’aime le français. (I like French.)
· a routine: Le matin, je me lève à 7 heures. (In the morning, I get up at 7.)
· what is happening now: Je mange une pizza. (I am eating a pizza.)
PLEASE NOTE:
In English, there are two present tenses. The present simple is used when we want to talk about the routine (i.e: I play football every day) and the present continuous is used to talk about actions which are happening at the moment (i.e: I am playing football).
However: There is only one present tense in French. Therefore, Je joue au foot means both I play football OR I am playing football.
The Present tense with Regular Verbs:
There are two types of verbs: Regular Verbs and Irregular Verbs.
A regular verb is conjugated (put in a sentence) by following a conjugation pattern.
There are three kinds of Regular Verbs:
· Regular Verbs with infinitives ending in –ER
· Regular Verbs with infinitives ending in –IR
· Regular Verbs with infinitives ending in –RE
Regular –ER verbs:
To be able to conjugate a regular –ER verb, you first need to work out the stem of the verb.
The stem of –ER verbs is formed by taking the infinitive and removing the –er at the end.
Example:
Then, you need to add the correct ending, which depends on the pronoun you are referring to (i.e: je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles)
Below are the present tense endings for regular –ER verbs according to each pronoun:
Regular –IR verbs:
To be able to conjugate a regular –IR verb you first need to work out the stem of the verb.
The stem of –IR verbs is formed by taking the infinitive and removing the –ir at the end.
Example:
Then, you need to add the correct ending, which depends on the pronoun you are referring to (i.e: je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles)
Below are the present tense endings for regular –IR verbs according to each pronoun:
Regular –RE verbs:
To be able to conjugate a regular –RE verb you first need to work out the stem of the verb.
The stem of –RE verbs is formed by taking the infinitive and removing the –re at the end.
Example:
Then, you need to add the correct ending, which depends on the pronoun you are referring to (i.e: je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles)
Below are the present tense endings for regular –RE verbs according to each pronoun:
Recommendation:
For French GCSE students with any exam board:
The handbook on the left gives you easy to understand descriptions and rules for all the grammar aspects you need to know at GCSE level. The workbook on the right contains a series of activities to help you practise these aspects. Answers are provided at the back for you to check your work.
For French A Level students with any exam board:
This workbook is excellent to practise all the grammar you need to know in the first year of your A-level course.
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