The simple present in French (L'indicatif présent)

The simple present in French is called "l’indicatif présent" and it is generally used to describe repeated actions, facts, generalizations, scheduled events in the near future or actions happening at the present moment.

The structure of this French tense is slightly different from the simple present English one. In order to understand the structure of l’indicatif présent within a context, it will be presented in this lesson 8 essential verbs for communication, description of different moments of the day, the personal pronouns, the grammar topic l’article partitif and basic vocabularies that provide resources for creating new sentences autonomously allowing basic communication.

The personnal pronouns (Les pronoms personnels)

1st person singular   Je            (I)                                 

2nd person singular Tu*         (You)

3rd person singular  Il             (He)

3rd person singular  Elle         (She)

3rd person singular  On**      (We)

1st person plural      Nous       (We)

2nd person plural     Vous*     (You)

3rd person plural      Ils           (They for masculine words)

3rd person plural      Elles       (They for feminine words)

*The second person singular and plural are used to make reference to one person, nevertheless "tu" is informal and "vous" is formal. "Vous" is also used always when various people are directly mentioned in a speech. 

**"On" is used to include the speaker and other people in an action in a speech, but it is conjugated in the third person plural. It can be also used to create sentences without subject.

Verbs (Verbes)

In French, as in English there are regular and irregular verbs. The French verbs are divided into groups: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. First, let's understand how the 1st group works, the verbs finishing in "-er". Fortunately, this is the easiest one and also the group with more verbs in French (approximately 3000 from 4000 verbs).

Using the verb to speak (infitive) as an example, in French is parler. Take "to" out, there is the base of the verb speak. In French, we need to take "-er" out, then we have the base "parl-" in which we add suffixes to conjugate the verb, see the example below:

	Parler (To speak)
Je	parle
Tu	parles
Il	parle
Elle	parle
On	parle
Nous	parlons
Vous	parlez
Ils	parlent
Elles	parlent

All the suffixes highlighted in red are going to be added to base of the verbs finishing in "-er", except for the verb aller (to go), we are going study this verb in the next course. Let's check more examples from the first group.

	S’appeler*
Je	m’appelle
Tu	t’appelles
Il	s’appelle
Elle	s’appelle
On	s’appelle
Nous	nous appelons
Vous	m’appelez
Ils	m’appellent
Elles	m’appellent

  

Note: The verb Appeler in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular and the 3rd person plural the "l" is doubled to change the sound of the letter "e", it is a rule of the French language. Verbs from the 1st group ending in e + consonant + er, the sound of the latter e must change. It can happen either by doubling the consonant between both "es" or accentuating the latter e.  According to the new rules of French orthography, only the verbs appeler (call), jeter (throw) and those deriving from them will keep doubling the consonant preceding the last e. All the other verbs alike the latter e gets a grave graphic accent, like this è. Below you have an example from the verb acheter (to buy) conjugated.  

*The verb s'appeler is in the "forme pronominale" that does not exist in English, but you can compare it to verbs used with the reflexive pronouns. Literally translating s'appeler would be "to call oneself", so, conjugating, it would be "I call myself; you call yourself etc". Making it simple, it is used to say your name. E.g. Je m'appelle Marie. (My name is Marie.)

	Manger (To eat)	Acheter (To buy)
Je	mange	achète
Tu	manges	achètes
Il	mange	achète
Elle	mange	achète
On	mange	achète
Nous	mangeons*	achetons
Vous	mangez	achetez
Ils	mangent	achètent
Elles	mangent	achètent

* The letter e in nous mangeons is kept not to change the sound of the letter g.

The French auxiliary verbs:

	Être (To be)	Avoir (To have)
Je	suis	j’ai*
Tu	es	as
Il	est	a
Elle	est	a
On	est	a
Nous	sommes	avons
Vous	êtes	avez
Ils	sont	ont
Elles	sont	ont

*J'ai is the contraction of je + ai. Verbs starting with vowel sounds will always contract with the 1st person singular je.

Two useful verbs from the 3rd group:

	Boire (To drink)	Vouloir (To want)
Je	bois	veux
Tu	bois	veux
Il	boit	veut
Elle	boit	veut
On	boit	veut
Nous	buvons	voulons
Vous	buvez	voulez
Ils	boivent	veulent
Elles	boivent	veulent

Vocabulary (Vocabulaire)

• Nourriture et boisson (Food and drinks): pain (bread); fromage (cheese); gâteau (cake); lardon (bacon); œuf (egg); fruit (fruit); orange (orange); jus d'orange (orange juice); lait (milk); café (coffee); thé (tea): des pâtes (pasta) salade (salad); viande (meat); poulet (chicken); poisson (fish); de l'eau (water); soda (soda);  bière (beer); vin (wine).

• Les périodes de la journée (Periods of the day): le matin (in the morning); l'après-midi (in the afternoon); le soir (in the evening); la nuit (at night); tous les jours (every day); aujourd'hui (today); demain (tomorrow); maintenant (now); au petit-déjeuner (for breakfast); au déjeuner (for lunch); au goûter (for snack); au dîner (for dinner). 

• Vêtements (Cloths): Pantalons (pants); t-shirt (t-shirt); chemise (shirt); chaussures (shoes); chaussetes (socks); robe (dress); jupe (skirt); chemisier (blouse); manteau (coat).

• Langues (Languages): Français (French); anglais (English); portugais (Portuguese); espagnol (Spanish); allemand (German); chinois (Chinese); arabe (arabic).

• Adjectifs de nationalité (Nationality adjectives): Français (masculine), française (feminine) (French); americain (m), americaine (f) (american); anglais (m), anglaise (f) (English); canadien (m), canadienne (f) (Canadian); brésilien(m), brésilienne(f) (Brazilian); mexicain(m), mexicaine(f) (Mexican); espagnol(m), espagnole(f) (Spanish); allemand(m), allemande(f) (German); chinois(m), chinoise(f) (Chinese). 

• Des éléments grammaticaux importants pour la conversation basique (Important elements of grammar for basic conversation): avec (with); et (and); Que/Comment (What); pour (for).

L'article partitif (The partitive article)

L'article partitif is used when it is mentioned in the speech an indefinite object, food or thing. In English, they aren't used, but in French they're necessary. Let's see the rules:

du - is used before masculine nouns (in the singular form) beginning with consonant

de la - is used before feminine nouns (in the singular form) beginning with consonant
de l' - is used before masculine and feminine nouns (in the singular form) beginning with vowel or  mute h.

des - is used before masculine and feminine nouns (in the plural form), no exception.

Exemples (Examples)

Phrases affirmatives (Affirmative sentences)

• Je parle anglais.
• Je mange du pain le matin.
• Je veux acheter un pantalon.
• Vous avez un vélo.**
• Marie boit du vin tous les jour.
• Pierre a une belle voiture.
• Marc veut acheter de la bière.
• Tous les jours, je mange des croissants.
• Vous buvez du café tous les matin.
• Je m'appelle Jane, je suis americaine.
• Je parle anglais et français.
• Je mange du pain et je bois du café tous les jour au pétit-déjeuner. 
• Amélie boit de la bière tous les soirs.
• J'ai une voiture.**

La négation simple (The simple negative form) 

The simple negative form in French "la négation simple"  needs to words to be complete, they are, ne and pas. All you need is to use this pattern: subject ne conjugated verb pas. It's important to remenber that when ne preceds a vowel the contraction is madantory. E.g. Je n'aime pas la salade (I don't like salad.) 

See other examples below: 

• Je ne parle pas anglais.
• Je ne mange pas de* pain le matin. 
• Je ne veux pas acheter un pantalon.
• Vous n'avez pas de** vélo.
• Marie ne boit pas de vin tous les jour.
• Pierre n'a pas une belle voiture.
• Marc ne veut pas acheter de bière.
• Tous les jours, je ne mange pas de* croissant.
• Vous buvez du café tous les matins.
• Je ne m'appelle pas Jane, je ne suis pas americaine.
• Je ne parle pas anglais et français.
• Je ne mange pas de* pain et je ne bois pas de café tous les jour au pétit-déjeuner. 
• Amélie ne boit pas de* bière tous les soirs.
• Je n'ai pas de** voiture.

*After the neagative word "pas" "l'articles partitif'" (the partitive article) must be either de or d'. It doesn't matter if in the affirmative form it is du, de la, de l' or des. Ex.: Je bois de la bière. (I drink beer.) Je ne bois de bière. (I don't drink beer.) / J'ai de l'argent. (I have money.) / Je n'ai pas d'argent. (I don't have money/ I don't have any money.)
**In these cases de in the negative sentence correspond to "any" in English. E.g. Je n'ai pas de t-shirt. (I dont have any t-shirt.)

Les phrases interrogatives (Interrogative sentences)

There are three different ways to make questions in French. We are going to start with the most simple one, which is done by rising intonation at the end of an affirmative sentence, however, it's important to remember that this kind of interrogative sentence is only used in informal contexts and are not accepted in formal texts, being restricted to the oral context.

. 

• Tu parles anglais?
• Tu manges du pain le matin?
• Tu veux acheter un pantalon?
• Vous avez un vélo?
• Marie boit du vin tous les jour?
• Pierre a une belle voiture?
• Marc veut acheter de la bière?
• Tu manges des croissants tous les jours?
• Vous buvez du café tous les matin?
• Tu t'appelles Jane? Tu es americain?.
• Tu parles anglais et français?
• Amélie boit de la bière tous les soirs?
• Tu as une voiture?

Now you can practice all you've learnt. Click the link below for the exercises:

Exercises about the simple present in French

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