Reference · module 5
Everyday verbs
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Verbs in -er
Use the most common French verbs in the present.
- Most French verbs end in -er: parler, habiter, travailler, aimer. Take off -er and add the ending: je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent.
- The good news: parle, parles and parlent all sound the same. Only nous parlons and vous parlez sound different, so speaking is easier than writing.
- Je becomes j' before a vowel or a silent h: j'aime, j'habite. The h of habiter is silent, so French treats it as if the word started with a.
The mistake you are about to make
je habite
j'habite
The h looks like a consonant, as in English habit. It is silent in French, so je contracts: j'habite.
Ne … pas
Make any sentence negative.
- French negation has two parts around the verb: je ne parle pas anglais. Ne goes before the verb and pas right after it.
- Ne becomes n' before a vowel or silent h: je n'habite pas ici, il n'aime pas ça. In casual speech ne is often dropped, but pas never is.
- After a negative, un, une, du and de la turn into de: j'ai un chien becomes je n'ai pas de chien, and je bois du café becomes je ne bois pas de café.
The mistake you are about to make
Je ne pas parle.
Je ne parle pas.
English puts not before the verb: I do not speak. In French pas comes after the verb: je ne parle pas.
Asking questions
Ask simple questions three ways.
- The easiest question is a statement with a rising voice: Tu parles français ? In writing, only the question mark shows it. This is how most people ask in everyday speech.
- Est-ce que at the start turns any sentence into a question without changing its order: Est-ce que tu parles français ? Before a vowel it is est-ce qu': est-ce qu'il travaille ?
- Question words: où — where, quand — when, comment — how, pourquoi — why, qui — who. In speech they often go at the end: Tu habites où ?
The mistake you are about to make
Est-ce que tu parles ?
Tu parles ?
Not wrong, but learners use est-ce que everywhere like English do. In speech a rising voice alone is more natural.