French Level 1
Unit 8: Leçon 5
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Verbs Ending in -ER
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Bonjour! I know that you are going to be sooooo excited about what we are doing next! Before we begin this leçon, let's quickly review what you've already learned in this, Unité 8.
Whenever you use a verb that ends with "er" we simply drop the "er" and change it in the following ways:
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-ER VERB ENDINGS
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SINGULAR FORMS
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PLURAL FORMS
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Je/J' = "e"
as in (Je mange)
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il/elle = "e"
as in (il nage)
or (elle chante)
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ils/elles = "ent"
as in (ils nagent)
or (elles chantent)
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I'm sure you noticed while studying the above graph that there are some empty spaces. These spaces are reserved for some of the forms that we haven't learned yet. Learning these forms and how to use them will be the main focus of this leçon!
In the second space on the left-hand column of the first graph, the word that is missing is "Tu" or the singular (and familiar form) of "you". The correct ending for "tu" is "es". This is another of those wonderful endings that sounds the same as the ending for "je" and "il" and "elle". Hear what I mean:
 Track 81
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The "tu" Graph
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Tu danses.
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Tu manges des hot dogs.
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Tu regardes la télé.
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Tu téléphones à Gille.
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OK. Let's plug "tu" into its space on our "-ER" verb form graph:
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-ER VERB ENDINGS
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SINGULAR FORMS
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PLURAL FORMS
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Je/J' = "e"
as in (Je mange)
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Tu = "es"
as in (Tu danses)
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il/elle = "e"
as in (il nage)
or (elle chante)
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ils/elles = "ent"
as in (ils nagent)
or (elles chantent)
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The next two forms that I'm going to show will fit into the spaces in the "Plural Forms" column across from "Je" and "Tu". They are: "Nous" and "Vous", respectively. Let's take a look at each one separately.
The word, "vous" means "you" in English. "Vous" can be used whenever we are talking to more than one person. "Tu" is only used to address one person. But there is more! "Tu" is what we call a familiar form, while "Vous" is what we call a formal (and plural) form. (If you remember from Unité 1, Leçon 1, familiar form words are those words that you should use only in talking to people your own age, friends, family members, animals, people who are younger than yourself, etc. On the other hand, formal form words are words that you should use when addressing an adult, such as a teacher, or any other adult who is not a part of your own family.
(*SPECIAL EXTRA INFO: The "vous form" is always used when addressing more than one person of any age making it the plural form of "tu".*)
The ending for "vous" is "ez". This ending gives the word an English "A" sound. This is the same sound that French verb words have when they end with "er". Check out the graph below:
Track 82
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The "vous" Graph
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Vous dansez.
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Vous mangez des hamburgers.
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Vous regardez la télé.
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Vous téléphonez à Victoire.
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Now we'll plug "vous" into its space on our "-ER" verb form graph:
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-ER VERB ENDINGS
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SINGULAR FORMS
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PLURAL FORMS
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Je/J' = "e"
as in (Je mange)
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Tu = "es"
as in (Tu danses)
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Vous = "ez"
as in (Vous jouez)
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il/elle = "e"
as in (il nage)
or (elle chante)
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ils/elles = "ent"
as in (ils nagent)
or (elles chantent)
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We're almost finished. Just one more ending to go and that is the ending for the pronoun, "Nous". The French word "nous" means, "we" in English. To get the ending for "nous" we simply drop the "er" on the verb and replace it with "ons". Check out the chart below and you will see how it works:
Track 83
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The "nous" Graph
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Nous dansons.
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*Nous mangeons des pizza.
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Nous regardons la télé.
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Nous téléphonons à Marie-Catherine.
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*The verb "manger" keeps the "e" before the "ons" in order for the letter, "g" to keep its "je" sound (see grammatical introduction at the beginning of the course for more information). I added this verb to illustrate that there are some exceptions to the "er" endings rule. Fortunately they don't happen very often.
Let's put "nous" into its space on our "-ER" verb form graph and our graph will be complete:
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-ER VERB ENDINGS
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SINGULAR FORMS
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PLURAL FORMS
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Je/J' = "e"
as in (Je mange)
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Nous = "ons"
as in (Nous désirons)
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Tu = "es"
as in (Tu danses)
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Vous = "ez"
as in (Vous jouez)
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il/elle = "e"
as in (il nage)
or (elle chante)
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ils/elles = "ent"
as in (ils nagent)
or (elles chantent)
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Now that you know all of the verb endings for all of the pronouns (je, tu, il/elle, etc.) for "er" verbs, you can proceed to the last leçon for this Unité!
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