French irregular verbs in ER in the present tense

French Lesson 5 of conjugation: French irregular verbs in ER in the present tense

Knowing the conjugation of French irregular verbs in ER in the present tense is very important. Indeed, French irregular verbs in ER like manger (to eat), appeler (to call) or acheter (to buy) are widely used in French. In order to study this lesson well, make sure you know the conjugation of French verbs in ER in the present indicative with this article including a video. The video below will teach you how to conjugate irregular verbs in ER in the present tense in French:

Verbs ending by “cer” in French

For example with the French verb “commencer” (to start, to begin):

Je commence
Tu commences
Il commence / Elle commence / On commence
Nous commençons
Vous commencez
Ils commencent / Elles commencent

For irregular verbs ending in "cer" in French, the only difference compared to the conjugation of verbs in ER in the present tense in French concerns the conjugation with the personal subject pronoun "nous". Indeed, you have to replace the "c" by a cedilla c, that is to say by "ç".

Verbs ending by “ ger “ in French

For example with the French verb “manger” (to eat):

Je mange
Tu manges
Il mange / Elle mange / On mange
Nous mangeons
Vous mangez
Ils mangent / Elles mangent

For irregular verbs ending in "ger" in French, the only difference compared to the conjugation of verbs in ER in the present tense in French concerns the conjugation with the personal subject pronoun "nous". Indeed, you must add an “e“ before the ending “ons“.

Verbs “ appeler “ et “ jeter “ in French

Appeler (to call)	Jeter (to throw)
J'appelle	Je jette
Tu appelles	Tu jettes
Il / Elle appelle	Il / Elle jette
Nous appelons	Nous jetons
Vous appelez	Vous jetez
Ils / Elles appellent	Ils / Elles jettent

For the irregular verbs "appeler" (to call) and "jeter” (to throw) in French, the difference compared to the conjugation of verbs in ER in the present tense in French concerns the conjugation with the personal subject pronouns "nous" and "vous". Indeed, with "nous" and "vous", for the verb "appeler" you have to put a single "l" before the ending, while with the other pronouns, you have to put two "l" (ll). Ditto, for the verb "jeter", with "nous" and "vous" you have to put a single "t" before the ending, while with the other pronouns, you have to put two "t" (tt).

Verbs with accent (é, è…) in French

For example with the French verbs “acheter” (to buy) and “se lever“ (to get up):

acheter	se lever
J'achète	Je me lève
Tu achètes	Tu te lèves
Il / Elle achète	Il / Elle se lève
Nous achetons	Nous nous levons
Vous achetez	Vous vous levez
Ils / Elles achètent	Ils / Elles se lèvent

For this type of French irregular verbs, as here for the verbs "acheter" and "se lever", we put a grave e accent, that is to say an "è" instead of the "e" in the part of the verb before the ending for personal subject pronouns je, tu, il, elle, ils et elles.

Another example with the French verb “répéter” (to repeat):

Je répète
Tu répètes
Il répète / Elle répète / On répète
Nous répétons
Vous répétez
Ils répètent / Elles répètent

Here, we put an e grave accent (è) in place of the e acute accent (é) in the part of the verb before the ending for the personal subject pronouns je, tu, il, elle, ils and elles.

Verbs ending by “ yer “ in French

For example with the French verbs “payer” (to pay) and “envoyer“ (to send):

payer	envoyer
Je paie	J'envoie
Tu paies	Tu envoies
Il / Elle paie	Il / Elle envoie
Nous payons	Nous envoyons
Vous payez	Vous envoyez
Ils / Elles paient	Ils / Elles envoient

For irregular verbs ending in “yer” in French, we replace the “y” by an “i” for the personal subject pronouns je, tu, il, elle, ils and elles. We keep the “y” for the personal pronouns subject nous and vous.

Once you have correctly mastered this conjugation lesson on French irregular verbs in ER in the present tense, you can move on to the next French conjugation lesson:

French conjugation lesson 6: verb faire (to do or to make) in the present tense in French

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