French Present Tense

What is the present tense?

The present tense (le présent) describes what is happening now, what happens regularly, or general truths. Unlike English, French present tense covers 'I speak', 'I am speaking' and 'I do speak' - all in one form.

Regular -ER verbs

The most common verb group. Remove -er and add the endings below.

Regular -IR verbs

The second group. Remove -ir and add the endings. Note the extra -iss- for nous, vous, ils forms.

Être - to be

Être is fully irregular and must be memorised. It is one of the most used verbs in French.

Avoir - to have

Avoir is also irregular. It is used for possession and as an auxiliary verb in compound tenses.

Aller - to go

Aller is irregular. Its present tense forms come from different Latin roots entirely.

Faire - to do / to make

Faire is irregular. It is used in many fixed expressions about weather and activities.

Negation - making verbs negative

To make any verb negative, wrap ne...pas around it. Ne becomes n' before a vowel or silent h.

Questions in the present tense

There are three ways to ask questions in French.

1. Rising intonation: "Tu parles français?" (informal speech)
2. Est-ce que: "Est-ce que tu parles français?" (neutral)
3. Inversion: "Parles-tu français?" (formal writing)

Common mistakes to avoid

These are the errors most learners make:

1. Using -es for je with -ER verbs: je parles ✗ → je parle ✓
2. Forgetting the -issons ending for nous -IR: nous finons ✗ → nous finissons ✓
3. Translating word for word: "I am speaking": je suis parlant ✗ → je parle ✓
4. Forgetting ne in negation: je parle pas ✗ → je ne parle pas ✓ (acceptable in spoken French only)