Present tense

One present covers English "I speak", "I am speaking" and "I do speak".

The three groups

French sorts every verb into three groupes, and every conjugation table you will ever open is labelled that way. The infinitive ending is a hint, not the answer — the nous form is the answer.

The test. Put the verb in the nous form. nous parlons → 1er. nous finissons → 2e. Anything else → 3e.

That test exists because the infinitive lies. finir and partir both end in -ir and behave nothing alike:

finir adds -iss-; partir drops the t in the singular. Learning "-ir verbs" as one thing is the classic way to get this wrong for years.

The third group is small and it is where all the traffic is: être, avoir, aller, faire, pouvoir, vouloir, dire, prendre, venir are all 3e groupe. The irregular verbs are the ones you say every day.

1er groupe — parler (to speak)

Four of the six forms sound identical — the pronoun does the work in speech. Only nous and vous are audible.

Spelling tweaks that exist only to keep the sound: manger → nous mangeons, commencer → nous commençons, acheter → j'achète, appeler → j'appelle. The verb is still 1er groupe and still regular; the spelling is just chasing the pronunciation.

aller is the one exception in the whole group — it looks 1er and is 3e.

2e groupe — finir (to finish)

The -iss- in the plural is the whole definition of the group. About 300 verbs, no exceptions: choisir, réussir, grandir, réfléchir, obéir, remplir, punir, bâtir. Many are built from adjectives — grand → grandir, rouge → rougir — which is why the group is still quietly productive.

3e groupe — everything else

All irregular, but they fall into recognisable families. These are the patterns worth knowing by shape:

Four things to notice, because they catch everyone:

• -dre is the tidy one. vendre, attendre, entendre, répondre, perdre, descendre all keep the d throughout: -ds, -ds, -d, -ons, -ez, -ent.
• -prendre breaks it. prendre, comprendre, apprendre lose the d in the plural and double the n: nous prenons, ils prennent. Same ending, different verb.
• -tre doubles. mettre, permettre, battre double the consonant in the plural: nous mettons. And connaître, paraître are a separate -tre pattern again: nous connaissons.
• ouvrir, offrir, couvrir, souffrir, cueillir end in -ir and conjugate like 1er groupe verbs — j'ouvre, not j'ouvris. The infinitive is lying again.

The 3e groupe verbs you need on day one

Also worth learning early: pouvoir (je peux, nous pouvons, ils peuvent), vouloir (je veux, nous voulons, ils veulent), savoir (je sais, nous savons), venir (je viens, nous venons, ils viennent), prendre (je prends, nous prenons, ils prennent), dire (je dis, vous dites), voir (je vois, nous voyons).

"I'm doing it right now"

No continuous tense. Use the present, or être en train de + infinitive for emphasis:

Je mange. · Je suis en train de manger.

Near future & recent past use the present

• aller + infinitive = going to: Je vais partir.
• venir de + infinitive = just did: Je viens de manger.

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