Present Tense

This unit covers regular verbs in all three groups, the key irregular verbs, expressions with avoir, spelling changes in stems, and using the present tense to talk about the future.

Regular -er verbs come first, since they are the largest group and their pattern unlocks hundreds of verbs. The pronunciation is worth noting early: four of the six forms sound identical, so the subject pronoun is the only clue in listening tasks. Avoir, être, aller and faire must simply be memorised, and they repay the effort because all four recur throughout the course. The avoir expressions are a reliable source of marks and errors alike — j'ai quinze ans, j'ai faim, j'ai froid all use avoir where English uses to be.