2 – Me voici!
Grammaire: Les verbes réguliers en -er
Regular -er verb
1. Formation
To conjugate regular -er verbs in the present tense:
- Drop the -er from the infinitive to form the stem.
- Add the –er endings to the stem: –e, –es, –e, –ons, –ez, –ent are for forming the present tense.
| parler ‘to speak’ | ||||
| je parle ‘I speak’ | nous parlons ‘we speak’ | |||
| tu parles ‘you (sg.) spea | vous parlez ‘you all speak’ | |||
| il parle ‘he speaks’
elle parle ‘she speaks’ on parle ‘one speaks’ |
ils parlent ‘they speak’
elles parlent ‘they speak’ |
2. Prononciation
The endings –e, –es, –e, –ent are all silent. The only endings that are pronounced are the nous and vous endings: –ons, –ez,
Listen carefully to the following sentences. Note that the pronunciation of each of the verbs is the same even though the conjugations are spelled differently.
| Tex, il parle français? Mais c’est un tatou. | Tex speaks French? But he’s an armadillo. | |
| Tex: Bien sûr je parle français et Tammy, elle aussi, elle parle français. | Tex: Of course, I speak French and Tammy, too, she speaks French. | |
| Eh bien dis donc, même les tatous parlent français au Texas? | Well, I’ll be, even the armadillos speak French in Texas? |
Attention:
Do not forget that élision and liaison pronunciation rules apply here!
Élision: Je changes to j’ before a verb starting with a vowel or a silent h (ex. j‘adore, j‘habite)
| Tex: J‘adore la musique rap et j‘écoute souvent de la musique dans les clubs. | I love rap music and I often listen to music in clubs. |
Liaison: The s in plural pronouns (nous, vous, and ils/elles) is usually silent except when it is followed by a verb that begins with a vowel sound. In such a case the silent s is pronounced as a [z] and links the pronoun to the verb.
| Tex et Tammy, ils écoutent de la musique cadienne avec Paw-Paw! | Tex and Tammy, they listen to Cajun music with Paw-Paw! | |
| Tammy: Nous adorons danser. | Tammy: We love to dance. |
3. Focus on…
pronunciation:
Answer the following questions to focus on pronunciation specificities:
4. Test your knowledge:
Recall the endings for each subject pronoun:
5. List of common -er verbs:
| adorer | to adore |
| aimer | to like |
| aimer mieux | to prefer |
| chanter | to sing |
| chercher | to look for |
| danser | to dance |
| demander | to ask |
| détester | to hate, to detest |
| donner | to give |
| écouter | to listen |
| étudier | to study |
| habiter | to live |
| jouer | to play |
| manger | to eat |
| montrer | to show |
| présenter | to introduce |
| regarder | to watch |
| rencontrer | to meet (by chance) |
| rester | to stay, remain |
| téléphoner | to telephone |
| travailler | to work |
| trouver |
Start with recalling the English translation (on the left), and then try recalling the French translation (on the right).
6. Listening comprehension:
What do you understand?
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