1. Putting It Together
An ER verb assembly kit
Sue Nicholson– French teacher
Stantonbury Campus

2. Putting It Together
An ER verb assembly kit
A do-it-yourself program for constructing complete
thoughts and actions using regular ER verbs
Setup
Getting
Started
Projects
FAQ’s
 Owner’s Manual

3. Setup
The process of verb conjugation
Parts and accessories

4. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
So what is conjugation? What does “conjugate” mean?
In grammatical terms, it’s…
Taking the regular form of the verb
(such as: to have, to eat, to dance, to
speak, etc) and changing it to agree
with the subject of the verb (the
person/object performing the action)
Lost? Don’t you worry. We conjugate verbs in
English every day! How???

5. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Watch carefully as our verb repair specialty crew
conjugates an English verb in the present tense.
to be
I am We are
You are You (pl) are
He/She is They are

6. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Don’t they do excellent work? Here are some
other familiar projects:
to dance to eat
I dance We dance
You dance You (pl) dance
He/She dances They dance
I eat We eat
You eat You (pl) eat
He/She eats They eat
Is it making sense yet? We change “to dance” to
“dance” or “dances” depending on who we’re talking
about (I, You, They). The same goes for “to eat.”
Try a few on your own:

7. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Here are a few verbs try. Remember to use the
present tense!
to watch
I watch We watch
You watch You (pl) watch
He/She watches They watch
to work
I work We work
You work You (pl) work
He/She works They work
How did you do?
C’est facile, n’est-ce pas?

8. Now that you are experts, lets check out the nuts
and bolts of conjugating French verbs.
La Conjugaison des Verbes
Verb Conjugation
Would you say… (click on each one)
I is? You be? He are? She work?
They watches? I to be?
You to work?
Oops! Of course not! Conjugated verbs are not
interchangeable! It sounds ridiculous! It’s the
same way with the French language.

9. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
In order to be a successful verb conjugator, you
will need to know the following 4 terms:
Stem-
Infinitive- The verb by itself: danser, parler, inviter, regarder
What others can you name?
The verb without the er: dans, parl, invit, regard
Subject- The person or thing doing the action (je, vous, la télé)
travailler habiter organiser écouter chanter

10. Ending-
La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
And most importantly:
The combination of letters that we put in place of the
“er” that we dropped earlier. Each pronoun has it’s own
ending to be used.
Below is a chart that gives these endings
-ER Endings
Je e [—] Nous ons [ohn]
Tu es [—] Vous ez [eh]
Il/
Elle
e [—]
Ils/
Elles
ent [—]

11. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Subject Infinitive Stem Ending
The worker: The drill
packaging:
The drill:
(packaging
removed)
The drill bits:
Or think of it this way:
aimer, danser,
chanter, parler
er
Je, Tu, Nous,
la fille, Ils
aim, dans,
chant, parl
e, es, e, ons,
ez, ent
The worker chooses the bit for each drill!!!

12. La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Ok, here’s the drill : Try to conjugate these
French verbs by following the 4 simple step:
1. Take note of the worker
2. Choose your drill package
3. Remove ALL er packaging from the drill (how
else are you going to use it?)
4. Select the correct bit for the worker given
*Notice, there are 6 workers for each verb!*
Je
Tu
Il/Elle
parler
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles

13. Je
Tu
Il/Elle
parler
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles
Je
Tu
Il/Elle
jouer
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles
Je
Tu
Il/Elle
habiter
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles
Je
Tu
Il/Elle
aimer
Nous
Vous
Ils/Elles
La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
Go to the next page to see how you did!

14. Je parle
Tu parles
Il/Elle parle
parler
Nous parlons
Vous parlez
Ils/Elles parlent
Je joue
Tu joues
Il/Elle joue
jouer
Nous jouons
Vous jouez
Ils/Elles jouent
J’habite
Tu habites
Il/Elle habite
habiter
Nous habitons
Vous habitez
Ils/Elles
habitent
J’aime
Tu aimes
Il/Elle aime
aimer
Nous aimons
Vous aimez
Ils/Elles aiment
La Conjugaison des Verbes
Parts and Accessories
How did you do? Ready for a new twist?

15. Getting Started
Parts Review
The Rule of THREE

16. Parts Review
Surveying the Foundation
You should know the following terms before proceeding:
-conjugate
-subject
-infinitive
-stem
-ending
Remember, when putting something together, it’s always
better to have a strong foundation than a weak one. You
want what you are making to last, right? Make sure your
foundation is strong before you begin further building.

17. Les exemples au Web
More examples: (click on links to hear
an authentic pronunciation)
http://www.frenchtutorial.com/standard/present/group1.php
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/ver1.html
The above links are the internet examples (described in your packet)

18. Les Projets
Projects
Visit the following sites and try to activities to test your
newfound skills and knowledge:
1. be sure to following instructions in parentheses! 
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/HotPotatoes/in
dex.htm  (click on “Français, scroll down and select Present Tense,
click on Regular –ER Verbs)
2. http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa101199t.htm
3. http://www.quia.com/mc/66100.html (you may play several times)
4. http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/ver1.html (scroll down towards
the bottom, starting with “fill in the blanks”)