First words, read 11 of 15, 3 min
I, you, he, she, and your first verbs
Je, tu, il, elle
Three irregular verbs, être, avoir and aller, appear in almost every French sentence. Learn them, plus one pattern that covers most other verbs.
The people
French has no word for "it" as a subject: use il or elle, matching the noun's gender. In everyday speech, on means we. Ils is for a group of men or a mixed group, and elles is for women only.
- jeI
- tuyou (friend)
- ilhe, it
- elleshe, it
- onwe (casual), one
- nouswe
- vousyou (polite or plural)
- ilsthey (men or mixed)
- ellesthey (women)
être: to be
A woman adds e to words describing herself, which is why it's « je suis contente » for her and « je suis content » for him.
- je suisI am
- tu esyou are
- il esthe is
- elle estshe is
- nous sommeswe are
- vous êtesyou are
- ils sontthey are
avoir: to have
French uses avoir where English uses "to be" for age, hunger and more: « J'ai vingt ans » is literally I have twenty years. Listen for the z in « ils ont », which separates it from « ils sont ».
- j'aiI have
- tu asyou have
- il ahe has
- nous avonswe have
- vous avezyou have
- ils ontthey have
- J'ai faim.I'm hungry.
- J'ai vingt ans.I'm twenty.
aller: to go
Add any verb after aller to talk about the near future, as in English "going to".
- je vaisI go, I'm going
- tu vasyou go
- il vahe goes
- nous allonswe go
- vous allezyou go
- ils vontthey go
- Je vais manger.I'm going to eat.
The pattern for most verbs
Most French verbs end in -er and follow this pattern. Take off -er and add the ending. Listen: four of the six forms sound exactly alike, so you only need three sounds.
- je parleI speak
- tu parlesyou speak
- il parlehe speaks
- nous parlonswe speak
- vous parlezyou speak
- ils parlentthey speak
The English sound guides are only rough. When they disagree with the voice, go with the voice.