French -er verbs

-er verbs are the biggest group in French, over 80% of all French verbs end in -er, and they're almost all regular. Master one verb's pattern (we'll use parler) and you can conjugate thousands of others without re-learning anything.

The catches: small spelling shifts in some -er verbs

A few -er verbs change spelling in some forms to keep the pronunciation stable. They're still regular at heart, the endings are the same, the stem just shifts.

• manger (and other -ger verbs) → keep the e before -ons: nous mangeons, not mangons.
• commencer (and other -cer verbs) → use ç before a or o: nous commençons.
• appeler, jeter → double the consonant before a silent ending: j'appelle, tu appelles, ils appellent.
• acheter, lever → take a grave accent before a silent ending: j'achète, tu achètes, ils achètent.
• préférer → swap acute to grave before a silent ending: je préfère, ils préfèrent.
• essayer, employer → swap y for i before a silent ending: j'essaie, j'emploie.

The one true irregular: aller

Aller is the only -er verb that doesn't follow this pattern at all. It's irregular in the present (je vais, tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont), takes a totally different futur stem (j'irai), and uses être in compound tenses (je suis allé). Learn it as a one-off.

Related conjugation hubs