French Grammar Explained /
Regular -ir verbs
Tu réussis toujours !
You always succeed!
Vous choisissez la salade de tomates ?
Do you choose the tomato salad?
As we mentioned earlier, there are three main types of verbs:
- the -ER verbs, like parler
- the -IR verbs, like finir
- and all other verbs, like faire, devoir, boire...
Today we'll talk more about the regular -IR verbs.
Wait, are you saying there are also irregular -IR verbs?!
Oui, and you already know sortir and dormir. But let's not focus on that for now, we'll see them when you're ready.
If you look at the example below, the regular conjugation of the -IR verbs differ from the conjugation of the -ER verbs:
| parler (speak) | choisir (choose) |
je | parle | choisis |
tu | parles | choisis |
il, elle, on | parle | choisit |
nous | parlons | choisissons |
vous | parlez | choisissez |
ils/elles | parlent | choisissent |
Note that the -is and -it endings are both pronounced "ee" as in "feet" (that's /i:/ for you linguists).