How to Teach French IR Verbs – A French Teacher’s Guide
Regular French verbs ending in -IR are a good opportunity to show beginners that French verb conjugation follows patterns. Once students recognize the pattern, they can conjugate and use many new verbs without having to memorize every verb individually.
That said, I don’t introduce the pattern by giving students a huge list of -IR verbs. I find it much easier to start with a few familiar examples and have students see how the pattern works.
In this lesson, I’ll show you how I teach regular -IR verbs in the present tense and, especially, how I address one mistake that English-speaking students tend to make.
French IR Verbs Bundle | Worksheets & Games
Start With the Infinitive
I like to begin with three regular -IR verbs:
finir — to finish
choisir — to choose
ralentir — to slow down
I have students identify what all three verbs have in common: they end in -IR.
Then I show them that conjugating a regular -IR verb is quite straightforward:
Remove -IR from the infinitive and add the appropriate present-tense ending.
For example:
finir → fin-
Then we add:
-is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent
This gives students a pattern they can use with other regular -IR verbs.
French Regular IR Verbs Present Tense Foldable Student Lesson Handout Book
Teach the Pattern With FINIR
I usually start with finir because the pattern is very easy to see.
FINIR — to finish
je finis
tu finis
il finit
elle finit
on finit
nous finissons
vous finissez
ils finissent
elles finissent
Once students have written or practiced the conjugation, I want them to notice something important: the nous, vous, and ils/elles forms look different from the singular forms.
This is a good time to have students practice the endings rather than simply memorizing the entire words.
je → -is
tu → -is
il/elle/on → -it
nous → -issons
vous → -issez
ils/elles → -issent
For example:
Ils finissent leur dessert.
They are finishing their dessert.
Don’t Let Students Translate “I Am Finishing” With Être
This is one of the things I emphasize when teaching French present-tense verbs.
English-speaking students often want to translate:
I am finishing.
as:
Je suis finir.
No!
French does not form the present progressive this way.
Je finis can mean:
I finish.
I do finish.
I am finishing.
So je finis is enough.
The same principle applies to other regular -IR verbs. Students do not need être + infinitive to express an action that is happening now.
I find it helpful to keep coming back to this as students learn new verb groups. It’s much easier to prevent the mistake early than to correct it repeatedly later.
Move to CHOISIR
Once students understand the pattern with finir, I move on to choisir.
CHOISIR — to choose
je choisis
tu choisis
il choisit
elle choisit
on choisit
nous choisissons
vous choisissez
ils choisissent
elles choisissent
The endings are exactly the same.
For example:
Nous choisissons des légumes au marché.
We are choosing vegetables at the market.
Again, students can translate nous choisissons as:
We choose.
We do choose.
We are choosing.
This is a great opportunity to reinforce the idea that French and English don’t always build verb tenses in the same way.
Add Another Regular -IR Verb
I then use ralentir to give students another chance to apply the pattern.
RALENTIR — to slow down
je ralentis
tu ralentis
il ralentit
elle ralentit
on ralentit
nous ralentissons
vous ralentissez
ils ralentissent
elles ralentissent
For example:
Nous ralentissons devant l’école.
We are slowing down in front of the school.
At this point, I want students to recognize that they are no longer simply memorizing three conjugations. They are learning a conjugation pattern that they can apply to other regular -IR verbs.
A Simple Practice Activity I Like
Once we’ve worked through the three verbs, I give students the infinitive and the subject and have them build the correct form.
For example:
finir + nous → nous finissons
choisir + vous → vous choisissez
ralentir + ils → ils ralentissent
Then I reverse it:
nous finissons → finir
vous choisissez → choisir
ils ralentissent → ralentir
This helps students recognize both the conjugated form and the infinitive, rather than simply memorizing a chart.
French Regular IR Verbs – Present Tense Jeopardy-Style Review Game
One Last Thing I Make Sure Students Understand
I don’t want students to leave the lesson thinking that every French verb ending in -IR is regular.
There are plenty of irregular -IR verbs in French. So I tell students that what we’re learning here is a group of regular -IR verbs, not a rule that applies to every verb that happens to end in -IR.
For beginners, though, learning this regular pattern gives them an important foundation. Once they understand how the endings work, they can start recognizing and conjugating many new verbs with much less memorization.
And that’s really the goal when I teach verb conjugation: I want students to see the pattern, not just memorize the chart.
More French Grammar Teaching Resources
If you’re looking for more ready-to-use French grammar lessons and practice activities, you can find my French teaching resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
French Regular -IR Verbs Bundle
