The present tense is the engine of French — you will use it across every Edexcel theme, from your personal world and neighbourhood to studying & your future and travel & tourism, in every paper. This lesson builds it from the ground up: the three regular families (-er / -ir / -re), the spelling-change verbs, the four key irregulars (être, avoir, aller, faire), the avoir idioms, and être en train de.
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right form, some ask you to produce it by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
A single French present-tense verb can be translated three ways in English. There is no separate word for "am/do":
Why this matters: beginners often try to translate "am" with a word (suis) and write je suis étudie. Don't — the ending already carries "I". The verb does the whole job.
Every verb has six "persons". Unlike Spanish, French keeps the subject pronoun — you write it every time. You still need to know them to pick the right ending:
| je (j' before a vowel) | I |
| tu | you (one friend) |
| il / elle / on | he / she / we-or-one |
| nous | we |
| vous | you (polite, or plural) |
| ils / elles | they (m / f) |
Two French quirks: on literally means "one", but in speech it is the everyday word for "we" and takes the il/elle ending — on va = "we go". And je becomes j' before a vowel or silent h: j'aime, j'habite.
Around 90% of French verbs are -er verbs. Take parler (to speak), chop off -er, and add the endings:
| person | form |
|---|---|
| je | parle |
| tu | parles |
| il / elle / on | parle |
| nous | parlons |
| vous | parlez |
| ils / elles | parlent |
Ear-trap: parle, parles, parle and parlent all sound identical — the endings are silent. Only nous (-ons) and vous (-ez) are heard. Same pattern for every regular -er verb: travailler, jouer, aimer, habiter.
The other two regular families. Note the -iss- that appears in the plural of -ir verbs:
| je finis |
| tu finis |
| il finit |
| nous finissons |
| vous finissez |
| ils finissent |
| je vends |
| tu vends |
| il vend |
| nous vendons |
| vous vendez |
| ils vendent |
Watch out: a small group of very common -ir verbs do not take -iss- — partir, sortir, dormir follow their own pattern (je pars, je sors, je dors). Learn those separately. For -re verbs, the il form has no ending at all: il vend.
Some -er verbs keep regular endings but tweak their spelling — in every form except nous and vous. Shade the changed forms and you get a boot shape:
| j'achète |
| tu achètes |
| il achète |
| nous achetons |
| vous achetez |
| ils achètent |
| j'appelle |
| tu appelles |
| il appelle |
| nous appelons |
| vous appelez |
| ils appellent |
| je préfère |
| tu préfères |
| il préfère |
| nous préférons |
| vous préférez |
| ils préfèrent |
Two more you must know: -ger verbs keep the e in the nous form (nous mangeons), and -cer verbs take a cedilla (nous commençons) — both just to keep the soft sound. The nous/vous forms are the top of the boot and never take the accent change.
A handful of verbs are so common — and so irregular — that you must know them by heart. Beyond the "big four", these come up constantly:
| infinitive | je form |
|---|---|
| prendre (to take) | je prends |
| venir (to come) | je viens |
| pouvoir (to be able) | je peux |
| vouloir (to want) | je veux |
| devoir (to have to) | je dois |
| mettre (to put) | je mets |
Good news: pouvoir, vouloir, devoir are the "modal" verbs — they are usually followed straight by an infinitive (je peux aller = I can go). You'll drill those fully in cluster 4.
Tap an infinitive on the left, then tap its "I" form on the right.
Four verbs are so common — and so irregular — that Edexcel expects the full present tense of each. Learn them cold:
| je suis |
| tu es |
| il est |
| nous sommes |
| vous êtes |
| ils sont |
| j'ai |
| tu as |
| il a |
| nous avons |
| vous avez |
| ils ont |
| je vais |
| tu vas |
| il va |
| nous allons |
| vous allez |
| ils vont |
| je fais |
| tu fais |
| il fait |
| nous faisons |
| vous faites |
| ils font |
Notice the traps: vous êtes and vous faites break the usual -ez pattern, and ils sont / ils ont / ils vont / ils font all end in -ont. These four power almost every sentence you'll write.
English uses to be for age and many feelings ("I am 15", "I am hungry"). French uses avoir ("to have") for these — a classic trap:
Age and bodily feelings: hunger, thirst, cold, heat, fear, age. J'ai faim / j'ai 15 ans.
Identity, nationality, description, mood and the time: who/what you are, how you feel as an adjective. Je suis fatigué.
Never translate "I am hungry" word-for-word as je suis faim. Hunger, thirst, fear, cold, heat and age all take avoir.
Choose the verb that fills each gap.
French normally uses the plain present for "I am doing" — there is no separate continuous tense. But to stress that something is happening at this very moment, use être en train de + the infinitive:
Don't overuse it. For habits and general truths, the plain present is better: j'étudie le français ("I study / am studying French" in general), not je suis en train d'étudier unless you mean at this exact second.
Three high-frequency patterns use the present tense where English does something different:
Watch out: never translate "I am hungry" word-for-word as je suis faim. Feelings like hunger, thirst, fear, cold and age use avoir.
Regular: chop -er/-ir/-re, add endings — -er: e, es, e, ons, ez, ent · -ir: is, is, it, issons, issez, issent · -re: s, s, —, ons, ez, ent.
Boot verbs: spelling shifts (e→è, é→è, l→ll) in all forms except nous/vous.
Big four: être, avoir, aller, faire — learn whole (watch vous êtes / vous faites).
Other key irregulars: prendre, venir, pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, mettre.
avoir vs être: age & feelings take avoir; identity, description & time take être.
être en train de + infinitive for "right now".
Idioms: avoir for feelings/age, il y a = there is/are, il fait for weather.
This is the tense every other cluster builds on. Press Finish to see your score.
You've built the present-tense system for Edexcel GCSE French. 🎉
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Next in the spine: Talking about people — pronouns, negation and questions. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.