There are three main verb groups in French. They are classified according to the ending of the infinitive:

• ER 
• IR
• RE

French ER verbs

This is by far the largest of the three groups of verbs.  

Let's learn how to conjugate French -ER verbs by looking at this table of 6 very common verbs:

Parler -  to speak	Donner - to give	Aimer -  to love
je parle tu parles il parle nous parlons vous parlez ils parlent	je donne  tu donnes  il/elle donne  nous donnons  vous donnez  ils/elles donnent	j'aime  tu aimes  il/elle aime  nous aimons  vous aimez  ils/elles aiment
Détester - to hate / detest	Jouer - to play	Chercher - to look for
je déteste tu détestes il/elle déteste nous détestons vous détestez ils/elles détestent	je joue    tu joues    il joue    nous jouons    vous jouez    ils jouent	je cherche  tu cherches  il/elle cherche  nous cherchons  vous cherchez  ils/elles cherchent

 

Can you see the pattern?  Course you can!

Here are a few examples in the first person singular, present tense

• I speak French.
• I speak English.
• I love Rod Stewart.
• I love roast beef.
• I'm looking for a new girlfriend.
• I'm looking for a new job.
• I hate Paris Saint Germaine.
• I hate Belgian chocolates.
• I play football every Friday.

And in the first person plural

• We speak French badly.
• We speak a little bit of French.
• We love French food.
• We love Spanish wine.
• We are looking for the meaning of life.
• We hate electronic music.

And in the second person, including questions:

Firstly the vous form:

• You speak French very badly!
• Do you speak English?
• Do you like the wine?
• Do you play tennis?
• You play tennis very well.

And now the informal tu form:

• You speak French very badly!
• Do you speak English?
• Do you like the wine?
• Do you play tennis?
• You play tennis very well.

French IR verbs

Now let's take a look at the second biggest group of French verbs.

Here's how to conjugate three common IR verbs in the present tense:

Choisir - to choose	Finir - to finish	Bâtir - to build
je choisis  tu choisis  il/elle choisit  nous choisissons  vous choisissez  ils/elles choisissent	je finis tu finis il/elle finit nous finissons vous finissez ils/elles finissent	je bâtis  tu bâtis  il/elle bâtit  nous bâtissons  vous bâtissez  ils/elles bâtissent

 

Some example phrases in the first person plural:

• We choose to live here.
• We finish work at 17:00.
• We choose our friends.
• We don't choose our family.

And now in the third person plural:

• They choose to live in those old houses.
• They choose very expensive shoes.
• They build houses for the poor.
• They don't build many houses per year.

French RE Verbs

Let's now turn our attention to the last of the three big French verb groups:

Vendre - to sell	Perdre - to lose
je vends tu vends  il/elle vend  nous vendons  vous vendez  ils/elles vendent	je perds tu perds il/elle perd nous perdons vous perdez ils/elles perdent

Here are some examples of -RE verbs, all in the third person singular:

• She sells sea shells on the sea shore.
• He sells very expensive watches.
• She loses her mobile phone all the time.

And now in the third person plural:

• They sell really beautiful shoes.
• They sell Japanese art to international collectors.
• They always lose the final match of the season.
• They always lose when they play PSG.

French Irregular Verbs

Unfortunately, a large number of French verbs are irregular.  In fact, many of the most common French verbs are irregular. As we'll see, often the form of the verbs look similar to the regular verbs, but with a couple of subtle differences here and there. 

As irregular French verbs are a big group and include the most common verbs in the French language we've created a whole class just for them:

 

Some other stuff here