The third and smallest conjugation of French verbs end in -re and follow a regular pattern. How and ever, what they lack in size they compensate for with an array of irregularities - il y a toujours d'un.
Les Verbes -RE | -RE Verbs
1. Formation
The part of the verb without the -re infinitive ending is known as the stem or radical.
To conjugate a regular -re verb in le présent,
simply drop the infinitive and add the appropriate ending, as per below:
| pronoun + | stem + | present ending |
| Je | - | s |
| tu | - | s |
| il / elle / on | - | |
| nous | - | ons |
| vous | - | ez |
| ils / elles | - | ent |
While the 'd' consonant sound of the stem is always pronounced in the third person plural because of the -ent ending, the final -d and -ds in the singular forms are silent. Other than that, pronunciation is quite like regular 'er' verbs. The forms ending in -s and -ent sound similar and are muted; however, the endings -ons and -ez are pronounced, but on is used rather than nous in everyday speech.
2. Examples
This table details the most commonly used French regular -re verbs. To learn to conjugate them in every tense,
check out the uber-useful and highly recommended University of Chicago's ARTFL Project.
| attendre | to wait (for) | |
| défendre | to defend | |
| dependre de | to depend (on) | |
| descendre | to go (come) down | |
| entendre | to hear | |
| pendre | to hang | |
| perdre | to lose | |
| prétendre | to claim | |
| rendre | to return (something) / hand in | |
| répondre | to answer | |
| vendre | to sell |
3. Concept Check
This table illustrates examples of regular -re verbs in le present:
| pronom | attendre (wait) | descendre (do down) | vendre (sell) |
| Je | attends | descends | vends |
| tu | attends | descends | vends |
| il / elle / on | attend | descend | vend |
| nous | attendons | descendons | vendons |
| vous | attendez | descendez | vendez |
| ils / elles | attendent | descendent | vendent |
