Practice regular French verbs using this proven method

Circling is the instructional practice of asking a series of prescribed questions in the target language about a statement in the target language. Circling is used to provide students with contextualized repetitions of target structures. Research shows that language learners need between 70-150 repetitions of a structure in order to acquire it into their permanent vocabulary.

Scroll down to the bottom of this post to watch my video tutorial using this method at the A1 level

• In this lesson, I will speak a sentence: Je garde mes petites soeurs tous les jours.
• I will then tell you to restate the sentence using a different subject pronoun: Nous (for example)
• You will then restate the sentence making necessary changes: Nous gardons nos petites soeurs tous les jours.

This lesson focuses on six regular French verbs, possessive adjectives, and other frequently used words that you will acquire through meaningful repetition. Each sentence is spoken in the present, passé composé, and futur proche tenses both with and without negation.

Included

1. Full length downloadable video circling activity – 20 minutes
2. Full length downloadable audio circling activity – 18 minutes
3. Practice cards for online use to work on reading and writing – 108 cards

👉 Step 1: Watch the video lesson / activity to learn about the circling method. You will quickly catch on, and will truly need to concentrate so that you can make the necessary changes in your sentences. Does this ever happen to you when speaking French with someone? You can understand what’s being said, but you can’t think fast enough to make the necessary changes when responding? That’s exactly why you should try out circling!

👉 Step 2: Once you’ve watched the video and have done the exercise while reading along, try out the audio only version! This will be a challenge as you will not be able to see the words, and it will help with listening and speaking skills.

👉 Step 3: Use the set of cards to practice reading and writing. Read the card that I would have spoken to you in steps 1 and 2, and take the time to write your response before looking at the answer card. As the cards are not numbered, I encourage you to download them and use them online rather than printing.

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.

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

Want to know more about my regular French verbs audio drill?

Practice is what it takes when learning verb conjugations. This audio recorded drill (native speaker) will help you learn regular French -ER, -IR and -RE verbs in the present tense. This is a verb drill of 100 common regular French verbs that you can use at any time to improve your skills, pronunciation and speed when conjugating.

Example:

👉FINIR – TO FINISH – JE – 5 seconds to say or write answer before recorded response – JE FINIS

👉ATTENDRE – TO WAIT – TU – 5 seconds to say or write answer before recorded response – TU ATTENDS

👉VENDRE – TO SELL – IL – 5 seconds to say or write answer before recorded response – IL VEND

👉ABOLIR – TO ABOLISH – NOUS – 5 seconds to say or write answer before recorded response – NOUS ABOLISSONS

👉MANGER – TO EAT – VOUS – 5 seconds to say or write answer before recorded response – VOUS MANGEZ

👉RÉUSSIR – TO SUCCEED – ILS – 5 seconds to say or write answer before recorded response – ILS RÉUSSISSENT

During the recording the verbs are not numbered so that you can easily choose a group of 10 or 15 at any point during the exercise to use as a quick review whether you’re at home, in the car on a road trip, or on a plane headed for Paris!

Included:

👉20 minute mp3 audio recording of 100 regular French verbs in the present tense.
👉Answer sheet
👉Student response sheet