New concept
One pattern, thousands of verbs
Être and avoir are irregular. The good news: the biggest family of French verbs ends in -er, and nearly all of them follow one regular pattern.
The recipe: take the infinitive (parler), drop the -er to get the stem (parl-), then add the ending for the person — -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent.
| Pronoun | Parler (to speak) | Habiter (to live) | Aimer (to like, love) | Travailler (to work) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | parle | habite | aime | travaille |
| tu | parles | habites | aimes | travailles |
| il / elle / on | parle | habite | aime | travaille |
| nous | parlons | habitons | aimons | travaillons |
| vous | parlez | habitez | aimez | travaillez |
| ils / elles | parlent | habitent | aiment | travaillent |
Habiter and aimer start with a vowel sound (the h is silent), so je becomes j': j'habite, j'aime. To say where you live, use habiter à + city: J'habite à Paris.