Common French verbs from each group

Verbs in French fall into three different categories. These are what we call the verb groups.
The first and second groups are known as regular verb groups. The infinitive forms of these verbs end in -er or -ir respectively.

Irregular verbs are verbs which don’t follow the conjugation patterns of regular verbs. The infinitive forms of irregular verbs most often end in -re or -oir, but they can also end in -ir, too,making them easy to confuse for regular verbs. It’s therefore a good idea to learn which verbs follow the irregular pattern so as not to get caught out. For more on the difference between regular and irregular verbs, check out our blog on the subject.

Each group conjugates differently. The two regular verb groups follow standard patterns of conjugation, while irregular verbs, true to their name, each conjugate differently. Below you’ll find the present tense conjugations for the two regular verb groups (-er and -ir), as well as an example of an irregular verb (-oir):

You can see the full conjugations lists in the verbs section of the website.