French RE Verbs: The Complete Beginner's Guide (That Actually Makes Sense)

So you've conquered the -ER verbs. Maybe you've even made peace with the -IR verbs and their weird -iss- thing in the plural forms. Now you're staring down the final boss of French verb conjugation: the -RE verbs.

Here's the thing.. RE verbs are the smallest of the three main verb groups in French. There are only about 50 regular ones. That's the good news. The bad news? Most of the -RE verbs you'll actually use in real conversations are irregular. And French being French, even the "regular" ones have some quirks you need to know about.

But don't worry. We're going to break this down in a way that actually sticks. By the end of this guide, you'll know how to conjugate regular -RE verbs, which ones to prioritize, and how to avoid the mistakes that trip up most learners.

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What are French -RE Verbs?

French verbs are divided into three groups based on their infinitive endings: -ER, -IR, and -RE. The -RE verbs are the smallest group, but they're everywhere in everyday French.

Some examples you'll hear constantly:

Now, technically, French grammarians lump all -RE verbs together with irregular verbs under the category "verbes du troisième groupe" (third group verbs). But for learning purposes, it makes way more sense to separate the regular ones from the irregular ones. You learn the pattern once for regular verbs, then tackle the irregular ones separately.

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How to Conjugate Regular -RE Verbs (Present Tense)

Let's use vendre (to sell) as our example. It's the model verb that every French textbook uses, and for good reason—it's common and follows the regular pattern exactly.

The Three-Step Method

Here are the endings you need to memorize:

Notice something weird about the il/elle/on form? It has NO ending. You just use the stem by itself. This is unique to -RE verbs and it's one of the main things that makes them different from -ER and -IR verbs.

Example Sentences

Je vends ma voiture. (I'm selling my car.)
Tu attends le bus? (Are you waiting for the bus?)
Il répond toujours en français. (He always answers in French.)
Nous descendons les escaliers. (We're going down the stairs.)
Vous entendez la musique? (Do you hear the music?)
Ils perdent souvent leurs clés. (They often lose their keys.)

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The Pronunciation Thing You NEED to Know

Here's where -RE verbs get tricky. What you see on the page is NOT what comes out of your mouth.

Silent Endings (Singular Forms)

In je vends, tu vends, and il vend, the final consonants are silent. You don't pronounce the -s or the -d. All three forms sound exactly the same:

The last sound you hear is the "n" from the stem. The written endings just... don't exist when you speak.

Audible Consonants (Plural Forms)

But then in the plural forms, suddenly the consonant before the ending IS pronounced:

This is a massive disconnect between written and spoken French. You need to practice listening and speaking these verbs separately from just reading conjugation tables. If you're just studying with flashcards and never hearing native speakers use these verbs, you're going to sound weird when you actually try to speak.

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The Most Important Regular -RE Verbs to Learn First

You could memorize all 50 regular -RE verbs, or you could focus on the ones you'll actually use. Here are the high-frequency verbs that show up in everyday conversation:

Attendre (to wait, to wait for)
J'attends un appel important. (I'm waiting for an important call.)

Vendre (to sell)
Nous vendons des chaussures. (We sell shoes.)

Répondre (to answer, to respond)
Trop de gens répondent sans réfléchir. (Too many people respond without thinking.)

Entendre (to hear)
On entend souvent cette déclaration. (We often hear this statement.)

Descendre (to go down, to descend)
C'est ici que tu descends. (This is where you get off.)

Perdre (to lose)
Je perds toujours mes clés. (I always lose my keys.)

Rendre (to give back, to return)
Je rends visite à mes parents. (I'm visiting my parents.)

Défendre (to defend)
Il défend les droits de tous. (He defends everyone's rights.)

Dépendre (to depend)
Je dépends de ma voiture pour aller au travail. (I depend on my car to get to work.)

These nine verbs will cover a huge percentage of the -RE verb situations you'll encounter as a beginner. Master these before worrying about the rest.

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Past Tense: Passé Composé with -RE Verbs

Once you've got the present tense down, you need to know how to talk about things that already happened. In French, this is usually the passé composé, which is a two-step process.

The Formula

Auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in present tense + past participle

For regular -RE verbs, the past participle is easy: drop the -RE and add -U.

Most -RE Verbs Use Avoir

J'ai vendu ma voiture. (I sold my car.)
Tu as attendu longtemps? (Did you wait long?)
Il a perdu son téléphone. (He lost his phone.)
Nous avons répondu à toutes les questions. (We answered all the questions.)

One Important Exception: Descendre Uses Être

Il est descendu au sous-sol. (He went down to the basement.)
Ils sont descendus en ville. (They went downtown.)

When descendre uses être as the auxiliary, the past participle has to agree with the subject in gender and number:

There's one twist: if descendre means "taking something down from its location" (like taking a box down from a shelf), it uses avoir instead of être. Context matters.

This connects to a broader pattern in French where certain movement verbs use être in the passé composé—if you want to dive deeper into how spaced repetition can help you memorize these patterns, that's exactly the kind of grammar rule that benefits from systematic review.

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Future Tense: Talking About What Will Happen

The French future tense (futur simple) has a specific quirk with -RE verbs.

The Pattern

For -RE verbs, you DON'T drop the entire -RE ending like you do in present tense. Instead:

Example with vendre:

Je vendrai cent livres avant la fin de l'année. (I will sell 100 books before the end of the year.)
Tu répondras à cette question demain. (You will answer this question tomorrow.)
Ils descendront l'escalier avant la fête. (They will go down the stairs before the party.)

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Imperfect Tense: Ongoing or Repeated Past Actions

The imparfait is used for describing past actions that were ongoing, repeated, or habitual. It's also used for setting the scene in stories.

How to Form It

Example with vendre:

Je vendais des livres en ligne. (I used to sell books online.)
Il descendait la colline quand il a vu ma voiture. (He was descending the hill when he saw my car.)
Nous attendions le bus tous les jours. (We waited for the bus every day.)

The cool thing about the imparfait is that the endings are the same for all three verb groups (-ER, -IR, -RE). Once you learn these endings, you can use them across your entire verb vocabulary.

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The Three Mistakes Beginners Always Make

1. Assuming All -RE Verbs Are Regular

This is the big one. Some of the most common -RE verbs you'll use are irregular:

Don't assume a verb follows the regular pattern just because it ends in -RE. Check first. If you memorize "je prend" (wrong) instead of "je prends" (correct), you're going to have to unlearn it later.

2. Pronouncing the Silent Endings

Students who learn French primarily through reading make this mistake constantly. They see "je vends" and pronounce the -ds ending, which sounds wrong to native speakers.

The fix? Listen to native French speakers actually using these verbs. Watch French movies, listen to French podcasts, or use language learning tools that include audio from real speakers. Reading alone won't cut it for mastering pronunciation.

3. Mixing Up Verb Groups

Some verbs look similar but belong to different groups with different conjugation patterns:

If you mix these up, you'll end up with conjugations that don't exist. Pay attention to the infinitive ending and verify which group the verb belongs to before conjugating it.

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How to Actually Learn These Verbs

Here's the honest truth: conjugation charts are helpful for understanding patterns, but they're terrible for actually remembering verbs long-term. Your brain needs context.

See Them in Action

Instead of drilling "je vends, tu vends, il vend" over and over, you need to see these verbs used in real sentences by real people. That's how the patterns stick without feeling like memorization.

If you're using Anki for language learning, focus on sentence cards rather than isolated verb conjugations. A card with "J'attends le bus depuis vingt minutes" (I've been waiting for the bus for twenty minutes) teaches you the conjugation AND how the verb is actually used.

Practice in Order of Frequency

Don't try to learn all 50 regular -RE verbs at once. Start with the nine high-frequency verbs we listed earlier. Use those until they're automatic. Then add more.

The same principle applies across all of French grammar—focus on what you'll actually use most often. If you're interested in the broader approach to moving past the beginner stage in language learning, prioritizing high-frequency patterns is key.

Separate Writing from Speaking

Because the pronunciation diverges so much from the written form in -RE verbs, you need to practice these skills separately:

Trying to do all three at once will just slow you down.

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Regular -RE Verbs vs. Irregular Ones

We've focused on regular -RE verbs in this guide, but you need to know that irregular -RE verbs exist and they're actually more common in everyday speech.

Some irregular patterns you'll encounter:

The prendre family (prendre, apprendre, comprendre, surprendre)
These verbs have stem changes and a double -n in the ils/elles form.

The mettre family (mettre, permettre, promettre)
These verbs have a double -t in plural forms.

Standalone irregular verbs (être, faire, dire, boire)
These just do their own thing and need to be memorized individually.

The good news? Once you understand how regular -RE verbs work, learning the irregular patterns becomes easier because you can see how they deviate from the standard pattern.

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Quick Reference: Regular -RE Verb Conjugation Summary

Present Tense Pattern

Past Participle

Future Tense

Imperfect Tense

Pronunciation

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Final Thoughts

-RE verbs are the smallest verb group in French, but they're not the easiest. The disconnect between written and spoken forms takes practice to master. The fact that many common -RE verbs are irregular adds another layer of complexity.

But here's what makes them manageable: there are only about 50 regular ones, and only nine of those are high-frequency verbs you'll use constantly. Focus on those nine. Master the present tense conjugation first. Practice pronunciation separately from reading. Then layer on the past and future tenses once the present tense feels automatic.

And remember—verb conjugation is just one piece of learning French. If you're tackling French as a whole, understanding why French is worth learning in the first place helps keep you motivated when the grammar gets frustrating.

You've got this. One verb at a time.

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