1.16:_Verbes_en_-er_au_present

<span id="What_are_verbs.3F"></span><span id="What_are_verbs.3F"></span><h2>What are verbs?</h2>

<p><strong>Verbs </strong>are <strong>action words</strong> that express the action (He runs) or state of being (I am tired) of a sentence.</p>

<p>French <strong>verbs </strong>have to be &ldquo;conjugated&rdquo; that is, changed according to how they are used.</p>

<p>The basic form of a verb is called the <strong>infinitive</strong> The English infinitive is &ldquo;to&rdquo; followed by a verb, while the French infinitive is a single word with one of three infinitive endings (-<strong>er</strong>, &ndash;<strong>ir</strong>, or &ndash;<strong>re</strong>). These can then be further divided into <strong>regular verbs</strong>, which follow a standard pattern of verb conjugations, and <strong>irregular verbs</strong>, which don&rsquo;t:</p>

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            <p style="text-align: left">1. &ndash;<strong>er</strong> <em> parler</em> (to speak)</p>

<p style="text-align: left">2. &ndash;<strong>ir</strong> <em> finir </em> (to finish)</p>

<p style="text-align: left">3. &ndash;<strong>re</strong> <em> vendre</em> (to sell)</p>
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<p>Most French verbs are <a href="https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/verb-conjugation" target="_blank" rel="external noopener nofollow" class="link-https">conjugated</a> by removing the infinitive ending to find the &ldquo;radical&rdquo; or &ldquo;root&rdquo; (e.g., parler &ndash;&gt; parl-) and then adding the appropriate ending</p>

<span id="Les_verbes_en_-ER_verbs_in_-er"></span><span id="Les_verbes_en_-ER_verbs_in_-er"></span><h1><strong>Les verbes en -ER</strong> <span class="mt-color-999999">verbs in -er</span></h1>

<p>There are several thousand <strong>verbs t</strong>hat end in <strong>-er</strong>, the largest category of regular French verbs. To conjugate them, remove the infinitive ending and then add one of the following verb endings &#10148;</p>

<p><img alt="conjugation of the verb to speak in French" height="185" width="385" class="aligncenter wp-image-45 internal" loading="lazy" src="https://human.libretexts.org/@api/deki/files/121900/Screenshot-2022-09-27-at-2.07.41-PM-300x144.png?revision=1" />Example:</p>

<p>Practice:</p>

<p>To form a sentence with <strong>French negation</strong>, the basic structure is as follows:<strong> ne </strong>+ verb + <strong>pas</strong></p>

<p>These two small words ne and pas form a negative expression simply by placing them either side of the verb. Example:</p>

<ul>
    <li>J&rsquo;aime le caf&eacute;. <span style="color:#808080;"><em>I like coffee.</em></span></li>
    <li>Je <span class="mt-color-ff0000"><strong>n&rsquo;</strong></span>aime <span class="mt-color-ff0000"><strong>pas</strong></span> le caf&eacute;. <span style="color:#808080;"><em>I do not like coffee.</em></span></li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Notice </strong>that the ne shortens to <strong>n&rsquo;</strong> when it precedes a vowel. In spoken French, this ne can even <strong>disappear </strong>altogether and many people would simply say: j&rsquo;aime pas le caf&eacute;.</p>

<p>Practice</p>

<p>For fun, watch the video below and listen to the lyrics. Notice the use of the negation.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lle_GA1cg20" target="_blank" rel="external noopener nofollow" class="link-https"><span style="color:#800000;">Pink Martini</span> &ndash; <strong>Je ne veux pas travailler</strong></a> &#9758; <a href="https://lyricstranslate.com/en/pink-martini-je-ne-veux-pas-travailler-lyrics.html" target="_blank" rel="external noopener nofollow" class="link-https">Lyrics </a></p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TpyRE_juyA" target="_blank" rel="external noopener nofollow" class="link-https">YouTube: <span style="color:#800000;">Ma&icirc;tre Gims</span> &ndash; <strong>Est-ce que tu m&rsquo;aimes ? </strong></a> &#9758; <a href="https://genius.com/Gims-est-ce-que-tu-maimes-pilule-bleue-lyrics" target="_blank" rel="external noopener nofollow" class="link-https"><span style="text-align:initial;font-size:1em;">Lyrics</span></a></p>

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