Le verbe régulier / The regular verb
Regular verbs are by far the most common verbs in French. Furthermore, whenever a new verb is created, it is a regular one.
But first, what do we mean by "regular"? Do you remember that in the previous "fiche" (le verbe I), we said that the verb is always changing according to its subject (je, tu, il...), the tense (past, present, future), etc. ? Look at the following table:
| chanter | applaudir | avoir |
| je chante tu chantes il chante nous chantons vous chantez ils chantent |
j'applaudis tu applaudis elle applaudit nous applaudissons vous applaudissez elles applaudissent |
j'ai tu as il a nous avons vous avez elles ont |
First let's look at chanter, in column 1: as you can see, the various forms of the verb are rather similar to one another. The root of the verb doesn't change: chant-. Only the ending changes, so that if you know the endings (-er, -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent) and one form of the verb, you can easily find all the other forms.
The second example, applaudir, functions in a similar way: you can recognize the root applaud- and the endings -ir, -is, -is, -it, issons, -issez, -issent.
By contrast, in the third example, avoir, it is impossible to identify the root. In that case, if you know one (or more) form of the verb, let's say the infinitive avoir, you have no clue to find the other forms, j'ai, tu as, ... . The only way out is to memorise all the forms of the verb.
Now to return to our question, verbs that function like the first two examples are said to be regular, while the others are said to be irregular.
In this "fiche", we'll look more closely at the regular verbs that function like chanter. They are the most common verbs in French. They are easily identified at the infinitive by their ending -er. All verbs whose infinitive ends with -er are regular (with the exception of aller). Furthermore, we'll limit ourselves to the present tense.
So how can you find the six different forms of the verb at present tense? Look again at chanter in the above table. Can you find the rule?
It is easy: just remove the ending -er, and replace it with -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. And you can do that with any regular verb!
Here are a few more examples. Can you identify the root and the endings in these verbs?
| arriver | visiter | monter | jouer |
| j'arrive tu arrives il arrive nous arrivons vous arrivez ils arrivent |
je visite tu visites elle visite nous visitons vous visitez elles visitent |
je monte tu montes il monte nous montons vous montez ils montent |
je joue tu joues elle joue nous jouons vous jouez elles jouent |
You're now ready for the exercises. C'est facile!