The French Present Tense is one of the most common French tenses. Here is everything you should know about French Present Tense and all the different conjugations.
The French Present Tense is more commonly used than the simple present in English. To be able to use the French Present Tense, you need to understand that the French present tense “Le présent de l’indicatif” replaces three English tenses:
The simple present
The continuous present
The empathic present
He eats
He is eating
He did it
In French, the present tense replaces these three English conjugations: il mange.
The French Present Tense is not very different from the uses in English. We use the present tense in French to talk about:
On va au restaurant tous les samedis.
We go to the restaurant every Saturday.
Elle est malade.
She is sick.
On part en vacances demain matin.
We are leaving on vacation tomorrow morning.
J’habite au Canada depuis quatre ans.
I have been living in Canada for four years.
Cela fait quatre ans que j’habite au Canada.
I have been living in Canada for four years.
French verbs are divided into three categories. The first category regroups verbs ending in -er and are regular verbs. We will see the second and third categories in the following few points.
Regular French verbs ending in -er represent 80% of French verbs. It’s excellent news since they are conjugated the same way. Well, mostly.
To conjugate a verb ending in -er, we will remove the ending -er, and keep the stem of the verb. For example, if we look at the verb téléphoner (to call), the stem is téléphon-, then we need to add the endings.
The endings are: e – es – e – e – e – ons – ez – ent – ent
Pronunciation note: The pronunciation of je – tu – il – elle – on – ils – elles is the same since the final e, the final s and the final ent are not pronounced in French.
A few French verbs ending in -er: raconter – vérifier – penser – montrer – hésiter – oublier – jouer
Some French verbs ending in -er are still regular but have different spelling in some forms when conjugated in the present tense.
C turns into ç when the verb is conjugated with nous. This change happens for phonetic reasons. If O follows C, it will be pronounced as a hard C. Therefore, we change C into Ç to keep the S sound.
→ Placer (To place) = je place – tu places – il place – elle place – on place – nous plaçons – vous placez – ils placent – elles placent
A few French verbs ending in -cer: commencer – balancer – tracer – forcer
We add an E after G when conjugated with nous. This change happens for phonetic reasons as well. If G is followed by O, it will be pronounced as a hard G. Therefore, we add E after G to turn it into a soft G.
→ Manger (To eat) = je mange – tu manges – il mange – elle mange – on mange – nous mangeons – vous mangez – ils mangent – elles mangent
A few French verbs ending in -ger: changer – exiger – voyager – corriger
French verbs ending in -yer can be divided into two categories. The first one is verbs ending in -ayer. They have two different conjugations. In the first one, the verb’s stem stays -ay-, which is the same as the infinitive verb. I usually advise my students to remember this spelling to make it easier.
If we look at the conjugation of essayer, this is what we have:
→ Essayer (To try) = j’essaye – tu essayes – il essaye – elle essaye – on essaye – nous essayons – vous essayez – ils essayent – elles essayent
In the second spelling of verbs ending in -ayer, in all the conjugations, except nous and vous, y will change into i.
→ Essayer (To try) = j’essaie – tu essaies – il essaie – elle essaie – on essaie – nous essayons – vous essayez – ils essaient – elles essaient
A few French verbs ending in -ayer: essayer – payer – balayer – effrayer
The second and third types of verbs ending in -yer are -uyer and -oyer.
All the conjugations, except nous and vous, will take i instead of y.
→ Essuyer (to wipe) = j’essuie – tu essuies – il essuie – elle essuie – on essuie – nous essuyons – vous essuyez – ils essuient – elles essuient
→ Nettoyer (To clean) = je nettoie – tu nettoies – il nettoie – elle nettoie – on nettoie – nous nettoyons – vous nettoyez – ils nettoient – elles nettoient
In verbs such as Appeler (to call) and Jeter (to throw) , all the forms except nous and vous, will double the consonant at the end of the stem.
→ Appeler (To call) = j’appelle – tu appelles – il appelle – elle appelle – on appelle – nous appelons – vous appelez – ils appellent – elles appellent
A few French verbs ending in -eler: épeler – rappeler
→ Jeter (to throw) = je jette – tu jettes – il jette – elle jette – on jette – nous jetons – vous jetez – ils jettent – elles jettent
A few French verbs ending in -eter: rejeter – projeter
Note that E before the double L and double T, is pronouned as È.
Verbs ending in -eler, -ener, -eter, -eser, and -ever which don’t have a double consonant, will take a grave accent (un accent grave) in all forms, except nous and vous.
→ Geler (To freeze) = je gèle – tu gèles – il gèle – elle gèle – on gèle – nous gelons – vous gèlez – ils gèlent – elles gèlent
A few French verbs ending in -eler: geler – peler
→ Amener (to bring) = j’amène – tu amènes – il amène – elle amène – on amène – nous amenons – vous amenez – ils amènent – elles amènent
A few French verbs ending in -ener: emmener – mener – promener
→ Acheter (to buy) = j’achète – tu achètes – il achète – elle achète – on achète – nous achetons – vous achetez – ils achètent – elles achètent
→ Achever (to achieve) = j’achève – tu achèves – il achève – elle achève – on achève – nous achevons – vous achevez – ils achèvent – elles achèvent
A few French verbs ending in -ever: élever – enlever – lever – relever
The letter É of the last syllable of the stem changes from É to È in all forms, except in nous and vous forms. For nous and vous, it stays É.
→ Céder (To yield) = je cède – tu cèdes – il cède – elle cède – on cède – nous cédons – vous cédez – ils cèdent – elles cèdent
→ Espérer (to hope) = j’espère – tu espères – il espère – elle espère – on espère – nous espérons – vous espérez – ils espèrent – elles espèrent
A few French verbs ending in -érer: préférer – exagérer – considérer
→ Répéter (to repeat) = je répète – tu répètes – il répète – elle répète – on répète – nous répétons – vous répétez – ils répètent – elles répètent
→ Célébrer (to celebrate) = je célèbre – tu célèbres – il célèbre – elle célèbre – on célèbre – nous célébrons – vous célébrez – ils célèbrent – elles célèbrent
French verbs ending in -ir are a part of the second group of verbs. There are around 400 verbs in this group.
Just like verbs ending in -er, we need to find the stem to conjugate the verb by removing -ir and only keeping the stem, before adding the endings.
The endings for verbs ending in -ir are: is – is – it – it – it – issons – issez – issent – issent
For the verb finir (to finish), for example, the conjugation in the present tense is as follows:
The third group of verbs includes all the irregular French verbs. Some of them are the most used ones in French, such as faire, aller, être, avoir, and more.
Among the irregular verbs of the third group, around 20 verbs ending in -re are called “regular verbs of the third group”, they follow the same pattern of conjugation.
After removing -re from the infinitive verb, we just add the endings which are: s – s – / – / – / – ons – ez – ent – ent
For the verb attendre (to wait), for example, the conjugation in the present tense is as follows:
A few French verbs ending in -re: entendre – dépendre – descendre – tondre – vendre – fondre
Être and avoir (to be and to have) are the most used verbs in French. We use them constantly to talk about ourselves, our feelings, how we feel, and more.
They are also used as auxiliaries for compound tenses such as passé composé.
Knowing them by heart is essential to having a good foundation in French.
Faire (to do/to make) is one of the most versatile verbs in French. We use it to replace verbs that don’t exist in French or that we don’t use a lot.
A few French verbs conjugated like faire: refaire – défaire
Aller (to go) is the only irregular French verb ending in -er.
The only forms staying consistent are nous and vous.
Knowing this verb by heart is essential to forming the tense Le futur proche – the near future.
The verbs venir and tenir (to come and to hold) both follow the same pattern of conjugation.
Therefore, it’s easier to study them together. They are also the main verb of many other verbs, which makes them easier to remember.
A few French verbs conjugated like venir: devenir – parvenir – revenir – intervenir
A few French verbs conjugated like venir: appartenir – obtenir
Devoir (to have to), vouloir (to want to), and pouvoir (to be able to) have different conjugations but are used in a similar way.
An infinitive verb often follows them as a complement.
Examples:
Je dois terminer mon projet.
I must finish my project.
Ils veulent partir en vacances.
They want to go on vacation.
Est-ce que je peux avoir un jus d’orange ?
Can I have an orange juice?
You are now ready to master the French present tense!
Need more French conjugations?
To find more conjugation, you can look at the Table of verbs on this website or Reverso.net.
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38 Responses
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You have a 2 typo’s on the conjugation of vouloir
Oh yes, I think they are copy paste mistakes. I will change them, thank you 🙂
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I am refugee from Ukraine.
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Thank you for making this website, It was so helpful.
I was searching for like a month about present tense conjugation.
My pleasure 🙂
Hi! I really enjoyed reading this article, it has motivated me to learn french again (I used to know it about 2 years ago). I know fully understand futur simple, thank you! But could you maybe write other articles like these to help understand the other conjugations of french?
Thank you!
I will 🙂 But if you want I have a full playlist about French conjugation on YouTube 🙂
When studying French Literature (at the Sorbonne no less) a very long time ago (1960s), I learnt that in some French literature, having established the past period in the first sentences, one can shift into the simple present. Also, that some/many contemporary writers will write a complete novel in present tense. Did I simply imagine this memory?
You are right. We use the present tense in a lot of past situations. I don’t know about writers only using the present tense tho. I have never encountered a book written like this.
I just came across your page. It looks great but one thing confused me.In regular verbs ending in yer/
For those ending in ayer you have shown two different spellings for the same verb Essayer on the first occasion it is conjugated with an i and the second a y→ Essayer (To try) = j’essaye – tu essayes – il essaye – elle essaye – on essaye – nous essayons – vous essayez – ils essayent – elles essayent
In the second spelling of verbs ending in -ayer, in all the conjugations, except nous and vous, y will change into i.
→ Essayer (To try) = j’essaie – tu essaies – il essaie – elle essaie – on essaie – nous essayons – vous essayez – ils essaient – elles essaient
The above does not make sense as it does not explain while using the same verb in all persons sometimes you have ayer and sometimes aier.
Is that just for assayer and are both options correct? or do you use version with I in some contexts and version with y in others.
thank you
Both versions are correct. I personally use the version with Y
Am happy to join your french course programs, thanks
I want to ask if you have a french community of your own, where all your subscribers meet and discuss with you “LIVE”
I don’t have one Rita, sorry!
Do you have a french community where your subscribers meet with you LIVE
Unfortunately not. And sorry for the late reply, I totally missed your comment!
Hey there, I want to thank you for this post. I am really struggling in french 3 in school and Im so glad I found you bc now I can always refer to you for the basics of french and the stuff I learned in french 2( what you posted is what I learned in french 2) merci encore
where is detester on this website I can not find it anywhere
I don’t have the conjugation of détester yet but I will get to it 🙂
That was really awesome! Thanks, and I really hope you do another full guide of another French tense (Cause I found none in ur website).
Dear Dylane!
Thank you so much for your perfect Organisation with the Courses.
With kind regards
Hubert
Thank you Hubert 🙂