By the end of this lesson you'll be able to use two more families of regular verbs, those ending in -ir and -re, and see how they compare with the -er verbs you already know.
Two more families
In the lesson on regular -er verbs you learned that you remove the infinitive ending and add a new one. These two families work the same way, with different endings. There are fewer verbs in them, but some of them are very common.
The -ir family: finir
Remove -ir and add these endings. The feature to watch for is -iss- in all the plural forms.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| je finis | zhuh fee-NEE | I finish |
| tu finis | tew fee-NEE | you finish (informal) |
| il finit / elle finit / on finit | eel fee-NEE / el fee-NEE / ohn fee-NEE | he, she finishes / we finish (casual) |
| nous finissons | noo fee-nee-SOHN | we finish |
| vous finissez | voo fee-nee-SAY | you finish (formal or plural) |
| ils finissent / elles finissent | eel fee-NEESS / el fee-NEESS | they finish |
Je finis, tu finis and il finit all sound alike. In the plural, -iss- is pronounced, so you can hear the difference between il finit and ils finissent.
Other verbs in this family:
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| finir | fee-NEER | to finish |
| choisir | shwah-ZEER | to choose |
| réussir | ray-ew-SEER | to succeed, to pass (a test) |
| grandir | grahn-DEER | to grow, to grow up |
Tu choisis le film ?
Are you choosing the film?
Les enfants grandissent.
The children are growing up.
The -re family: attendre
Remove -re and add these endings. They're the same as in other families in the plural, but notice the il/elle form: it has no ending at all, just the stem.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| j'attends | zhah-TAHN | I wait for |
| tu attends | tew ah-TAHN | you wait for (informal) |
| il attend / elle attend / on attend | ee-lah-TAHN / eh-lah-TAHN / oh-nah-TAHN | he, she waits for / we wait for (casual) |
| nous attendons | noo-zah-tahn-DOHN | we wait for |
| vous attendez | voo-zah-tahn-DAY | you wait for (formal or plural) |
| ils attendent / elles attendent | eel-zah-TAHND / el-zah-TAHND | they wait for |
J'attends, tu attends and il attend all sound alike, because the final d and s are silent. In the plural you can hear the d: ils attendent.
Other verbs in this family:
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| attendre | ah-TAHN-druh | to wait for |
| vendre | VAHN-druh | to sell |
| répondre | ray-POHN-druh | to answer |
| entendre | ahn-TAHN-druh | to hear |
| perdre | PEHR-druh | to lose |
Elle attend le bus.
She's waiting for the bus.
Nous vendons la maison.
We're selling the house.
J'entends la musique.
I can hear the music.
The three families side by side
Here's how the three patterns compare.
| Subject | parler | finir | vendre |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | parle | finis | vends |
| tu | parles | finis | vends |
| il / elle / on | parle | finit | vend |
| nous | parlons | finissons | vendons |
| vous | parlez | finissez | vendez |
| ils / elles | parlent | finissent | vendent |
A few things are the same everywhere. Nous ends in -ons, vous in -ez, and ils/elles in -ent, which is silent. All that really changes is the singular, and the -iss- in the -ir family.
Around the working day
These verbs come up in ordinary sentences about work and getting around. Here are a few nouns to use with them.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| le travail | luh trah-VAH-y | work |
| le bus | luh BEWSS | the bus |
| le train | luh TRAN | the train |
| la voiture | lah vwah-TEWR | the car |
Je réponds à Marc.
I'm answering Marc.
On finit à midi ?
Shall we finish at noon?
Notice that répondre takes à before the person you answer.
Putting it together
Here's a short exchange between colleagues at the end of the day.
- Tu finis le travail ? (Are you finishing work?)
- Oui. Et toi, tu attends le train ? (Yes. And you, are you waiting for the train?)
- Non, j'attends Julie. Elle arrive ! (No, I'm waiting for Julie. She's on the way!)
You'll also notice that these verbs work with ne…pas in the usual way, as you saw in the lesson on negation: Je ne finis pas, Il n'attend pas.
What's next
Next, the lesson on numbers 21 to 100 takes your counting all the way to a hundred. Later in this unit, the lesson on daily routines adds more verbs for your day, and the review of this unit brings all of them together.