After -ER and -IR verbs, -re verbs are the third and smallest family of regular French verbs: the "3rd group." They follow one predictable pattern built around the model verb vendre (to sell). Watch out, though: many very common -re verbs (like prendre and faire) are actually irregular. More on that below.
1. How to conjugate regular -re verbs
Drop the -re ending from the infinitive, then add these endings: -s, -s, nothing at all for il/elle/on, -ons, -ez, -ent.
| Je vends ma voiture. | I'm selling my car. |
| Tu attends le bus. | You're waiting for the bus. |
| Il répond à la question. | He's answering the question. |
| Nous vendons la maison. | We're selling the house. |
2. The pronunciation trap: but this time, you CAN hear the plural
In the singular, je vends, tu vends, and il vend all sound identical: /vɑ̃/; the -s and the final -d are both silent.
3. Watch out: many common -re verbs are irregular
This lesson covers only the regular pattern. A lot of extremely common -re verbs don't follow it at all: prendre, mettre, dire, faire, lire, écrire, boire, connaître. We cover several of these irregular families in their own lessons: prendre, apprendre, comprendre, faire and dire, and voir, savoir, connaître.
4. Common regular -re verbs
Once you know vendre, you already know how to conjugate all of these:
| vendre | to sell |
| attendre | to wait for |
| répondre (à) | to answer |
| perdre | to lose |
| entendre | to hear |
| descendre | to go down, to get off |
| rendre | to give back, to return |
| confondre | to confuse, to mix up |
5. Conjugation: present tense (model: vendre)
| je vends | I sell / I am selling |
| tu vends | you sell (informal) |
| il / elle / on vend | he / she / one sells |
| nous vendons | we sell |
| vous vendez | you sell (formal / plural) |
| ils / elles vendent | they sell |