Regular French Verbs Ending in -DRE
A high percentage of verbs in French end in -DRE. These are for the most part regular verbs, and their conjugation in the present tense follows a set pattern; you just need to drop the -RE ending of the infinitive form of the verb (in English, the infinitive form is the verb preceded by the word ‘to’). The verb minus its ending is called the stem or radical.
Scroll down to the bottom of this post to watch my video lesson on regular -DRE verbs in the present, past, and future tenses. You can download a free PDF of this lesson in my private French Grammar Library.
Conjugating the verbs
In order to conjugate the verbs, you need to drop the -RE and replace it with the following endings:
Répondre (to respond / to reply / to answer)
Je répond + s
Tu répond + s
Il/elle/on répond + (nothing)
Nous répond + ons
Vous répond + ez
Ils/elles répond + ent
Attendre (to wait)
J’attend + s
Tu attend + s
Il/elle/on attend + (nothing)
Nous attend + ons
Vous attend + ez
Ils/elles attend + ent
Note: When verbs are conjugated in the present tense, they can be interpreted as either the continuous present (“ing” in English) or the simple present.
Examples:
Je réponds à un email. = I am replying to an email.
Il répond à tous ses emails = He replies to all of his emails.
Tu attends un ami = You are waiting for a friend.
J’attends toujours le bus à 5h00 = I always wait for the bus at 5:00..
Note: The verbs PRENDRE, APPRENDRE, and COMPRENDRE do not follow the same pattern as regular verbs ending in -IR.
A short list of common regular French -DRE verbs:
- attendre – to wait for
- défendre – to defend
- dépendre – to depend on
- descendre – to descend
- entendre – to hear
- étendre – to stretch
- fondre – to melt
- mordre – to bite
- pendre – to hang, to suspend
- perdre – to lose
- rendre – to give back
- répondre – to answer
- vendre – to sell
