1. La famille ER conjugaison
Conjugating the ER family
Learning patterns is a key to mastering the conjugating of French verbs.

2. Subject Pronouns Doesn’t matter if the verb is regular or irregular: The pronouns are always in the same order. Je Tu
Il, elle,on
Nous
Vous
Ils,elles I
You
He, she, one We
They masculine & feminine

3. They follow a pattern. Regular or irregular?
First, determine if the verb is irregular:
1) Know which are the irregulars.
2) They are usually common verbs.
3) They are unique (no pattern) & you have to study each one.
The good news about REGULAR verbs:
They only have one of three endings
They follow a pattern.

4. Regular verbs: the pattern explained
The infinitive of most verbs in French end in the letters ER. This is the family we are studying in this presentation.
Lesser numbers end in the letters IR and RE.
Most follow a regular pattern for each “ending group” above.
Exceptions to this pattern are called irregular verbs.
So if you learn the regular patterns you will know the patterns for most verbs.
To conjugate each verb in the present tense, the last two letters (ER, IR, RE) are dropped and a different ending is added for each pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, we, you all, they).

5. The pattern for verbs of the ER family
Put the pronouns in order.
Find the stem of the verb by taking off the family name: ER
Add your verb endings.
Pronouns
The stem: parler
The ending Je
parl e Tu es
Il, elle, on
Nous
ons
Vous ez
Ils, elles
ent

6. video & prononciation Parler
Parler Take the “ER” off and replace it by the following endings: E ES E ONS EZ ENT
video & prononciation Parler
Je parle
Tu parles
Il parle
Elle parle
On parle
Nous parlons
Vous parlez
Ils parlent
Elles parlent

7. Prononciation & video Aimer
J’aime
Tu aimes
Il, elle, on aime
Nous aimons
Vous aimez
Ils, elles aiment

8. Irregular ER verbs Irregular Stems
►French stem-changing verbs are conjugated with the same endings as normal but have two different stems. Stem- changing verbs are sometimes called boot verbs.
►We will study the verbs acheter & préférer :
Change of accent in the stem
►And the verbs manger & commencer:
Add an “e” or a “ç”
►We will also meet Aller: the black sheep of the ER family!

9. First, 2 boot verbs Note: è sounds like the e in ED or met.
Acheter (to buy)
Préférer (to prefer)
J’achète
Tu achètes
Il, elle, on achète
Nous achetons
Vous achetez
Ils, elles achètent
Je préfère
Tu préfères
Il, elle, on préfère
Nous préférons
Vous préférez
Ils, elles préfèrent

10. Why are they called boot verbs?
The verb acheter is a so-called boot verb because all the verbs with the same stems form the shape of a boot.
The verb: acheter
achète
achetons
achètes
achetez
achètent
Another way of saying it : Nous and Vous look like their parents: acheter

11. Two more exceptions in the ER family.
Manger (to eat)
Commencer (to begin)
Je mange
Tu manges
Il, elle, on mange
Nous mangeons
Vous mangez
Ils, elles mangent
Je commence
Tu commences
Il, elle, on commence
Nous commençons
Vous commencez
Ils, elles commencent

12. prononciation & video Aller Je vais Tu vas Il va He goes Elle va On va
Irregular verb Aller
prononciation & video Aller
Je vais
Tu vas
Il va He goes
Elle va
On va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils vont
Elles vont
Note: Aller is the only big exception in the ER family.