Verbs are used to express an action, a state, a change or an event. In a sentence, they carry the core meaning and situate what is happening with the subject. Manger, être, arriver and devenir show four different ways of moving the sentence forward. Without a verb, the sentence has no verbal center. With a verb, you know what the person does, what they are, what happens to them, or what changes.

The infinitive is the base form of the verb, as in Verbal infinitive. It does not change according to the person. In French, many regular verbs belong to three large families visible at the infinitive: -er, -ir and -re. The final -r of the infinitive is tied to the verb model, and the ending helps recognize the family. Parler belongs to -er, finir to -ir, vendre to re. This form is also used after other verbs, after a preposition, or when naming the action in a general way.

The -er verbs follow the most common French model. The stem stays stable and the present indicative endings are added: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. In parler, the stem is Parl- : je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent. The -ent of ils is not pronounced. The same pattern is found with aimer, chercher, travailler and most regular -er verbs. To review the whole tense, also see Present indicative.

Regular -ir verbs are built with a stem and the endings -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent. With finir, we get je finis, tu finis, il finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent. The middle group, -iss-, appears in the nous, vous, and ils forms. This pattern appears in choisir, réussir and grandir. Singular forms stay short, then the plural adds -iss- before the endings.

The -re verbs follow another regular present-tense pattern: -s, -s, -∅, -ons, -ez, -ent. With vendre, the stem is vend- : je vends, tu vends, il vend, nous vendons, vous vendez, ils vendent. The forms of je, tu and il often show the stem without a final audible vowel. This pattern appears in attendre, perdre, répondre and other regular -re verbs. The present of these verbs keeps a form very close to the base stem.

To conjugate quickly, you must separate two parts: the stem and the ending. The stem carries the main meaning of the verb, and the ending marks the person. In parler, parl- stays stable and -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent changes according to the subject. Orally, some endings are not heard, especially -e, -es and -ent. In ils parlent, the difference with il parle is mostly visible in writing. This method also applies to finir, vendre and other regular present verbs.

The present participle is formed with -ant. Start from the verb stem in the plural nous and replace the ending with -ant: nous parlons gives parlant, nous finissons gives finissant, nous vendons gives vendant. The gerund is formed with en + present participle. It expresses an action that happens at the same time as another: en parlant, en finissant, en vendant. The form remains invariable. The gerund is used to show simultaneity, manner or cause in a sentence.

The regular past participle depends on the verb family. Verbs in -er give -é: parler becomes parlé. Verbs in -ir often give -i: finir becomes fini. Regular -re verbs often give -u: vendre becomes vendu. You find these forms in sentences like j’ai parlé, elle a fini and nous avons vendu. This form is used to build compound tenses and to express a completed action or result.

The passé composé with avoir is formed with auxiliary + past participle. The auxiliary is conjugated in the present: j’ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont. Then we add the past participle of the main verb: j’ai parlé, tu as fini, nous avons vendu. This is the most common way to recount a past action in everyday language. The auxiliary carries the tense, and the past participle carries the main meaning of the action. In many regular verbs, this is the basic structure of the passé composé.

Some regular verbs keep the same conjugation pattern, but their spelling changes to preserve the right sound. With -ger verbs, an e is added before a and o: nous mangeons, nous nageons. With -cer verbs, c becomes ç before a and o: nous commençons, nous lançons. Verbs ending in -yer often change y to i before a silent e: je paie, tu nettoies. Verbs ending in -eler and -eter sometimes double a consonant or keep a special spelling depending on the form. The sound remains clear, and the basic verb pattern does not change.