How French conjugation works: stem + ending

How French Conjugation Actually Works 🥐 🇨🇵

Welcome to French Verbs with Croissant. Let's dive into your first lesson!

What Is Conjugation?

Before learning verb forms, it’s important to understand what conjugation is and why it matters in French.

In English, verbs change very little.

For example:

• I eat
• You eat
• We eat

The verb usually stays the same.

French works differently. The verb changes form depending on who is doing the action.

This change is called conjugation.

Example with manger (to eat):

• Je mange → I eat
• Tu manges → You eat
• Il mange → He eats

👉 Same verb, different endings — that’s conjugation.

In French, every conjugated verb follows the same fundamental structure.

The Core Principle: Stem + Ending

Every conjugated verb in French is built from two parts:

stem (radical) + ending (terminaison)

Let’s look at the verb parler (to speak).

• parl- → the stem: carries the core meaning
• -er → the ending: changes depending on who does the action and when

When we change the ending, the verb form changes:

The Rule That Always Holds

No matter the tense, no matter the verb:

French conjugation always works as: stem + ending

This rule never changes.

What does change between verbs is mostly:

• which set of endings is used (depends on the tense)
• how the stem behaves (sometimes it modifies, whcih makes a verb irregular)

But the underlying structure remains identical.

What Endings Tell You

Verb endings in French usually indicate:

• Who is doing the action (person)
• When the action happens (tense)

This is why French does not rely heavily on word order like English — the information is already inside the verb ending.