📖LearnModule 2 · Lesson 3 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, completedUnit 1 · Le présent — the full present tense
The -er family, complete
Module 2 of the free French course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 3 of 30: The full -er pattern: je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 3.
The words
French
English
Say it
nous parlons
we speak
noo pahr-LOH(n)
vous parlez
you speak (polite/plural)
voo pahr-LAY
ils parlent
they speak
eel PAHRL
habiter
to live (somewhere)
ah-bee-TAY
j'habite à
I live in
zhah-BEET ah
manger
to eat
mah(n)-ZHAY
nous mangeons
we eat
noo mah(n)-ZHOH(n)
écouter
to listen
ay-koo-TAY
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
The full -er pattern: je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent. Four of the six SOUND identical — only -ons and -ez change the sound.
Et aussi · And also
Every regular -er verb repeats this shape: habiter (to live somewhere), manger (to eat), écouter (to listen). Learn the pattern once, own hundreds of verbs.
Attention · Watch out
nous mangeons keeps an e before -ons to protect the soft g. Without it the g would harden, so that e is not optional.
parler — the table
je parle · tu parles · il/elle parle · nous parlons · vous parlez · ils/elles parlent
habiter — the table
je habite · tu habites · il/elle habite · nous habitons · vous habitez · ils/elles habitent
manger — the table
je mange · tu manges · il/elle mange · nous mangeons · vous mangez · ils/elles mangent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with nous parlons.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out parler and habiter and manger in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.