Regular -re Verbs (vendre, attendre, répondre)

The third and smallest group of regular French verbs are those ending in -re. While fewer in number than -er and -ir verbs, several very common verbs follow this pattern. The conjugation is straightforward once you learn the endings.

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How -re Verb Conjugation Works

To conjugate a regular -re verb:

1. Remove the -re ending to find the stem.
2. Add the present tense endings.

The Endings

Subject	Ending	Example: vendre (to sell)
je	-s	je vends
tu	-s	tu vends
il/elle/on	— (nothing)	il vend
nous	-ons	nous vendons
vous	-ez	vous vendez
ils/elles	-ent	ils vendent

Key feature: The il/elle/on form has no ending — it is just the bare stem. This is unique to -re verbs. Compare: il parle (parler, -er), il finit (finir, -ir), but il vend (vendre, -re) — no additional letter.

Pronunciation: Je vends, tu vends, and il vend all sound the same: "vahn." The final -ds and -d are silent. Nous vendons = "vahn-DOHN," vous vendez = "vahn-DAY," ils vendent = "vahnd" (the -ent is silent but the -d- is heard because it precedes an ending).

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Common Regular -re Verbs

Infinitive	English	Example Sentence
vendre	to sell	Il vend des fruits. (He sells fruit.)
attendre	to wait (for)	J'attends le bus. (I wait for the bus.)
répondre (à)	to answer/reply	Elle répond à la question. (She answers the question.)
entendre	to hear	Tu entends la musique ? (Do you hear the music?)
descendre	to go down/come down	Nous descendons l'escalier. (We go down the stairs.)
perdre	to lose	Je perds toujours mes clés. (I always lose my keys.)
rendre	to give back/return	Il rend le livre à la bibliothèque. (He returns the book to the library.)
défendre	to defend/forbid	L'avocat défend son client. (The lawyer defends his client.)
fondre	to melt	La neige fond au printemps. (The snow melts in spring.)
mordre	to bite	Le chien ne mord pas. (The dog doesn't bite.)
tondre	to mow	Il tond la pelouse. (He mows the lawn.)
confondre	to confuse	Je confonds les deux mots. (I confuse the two words.)
correspondre	to correspond	Les dates correspondent. (The dates correspond.)
interrompre	to interrupt	Ne m'interrompez pas ! (Don't interrupt me!)
rompre	to break (up)	Elle rompt le silence. (She breaks the silence.)

Note on attendre: In French, attendre means "to wait for" — the "for" is built into the verb. Do not add a preposition: J'attends le bus (I wait for the bus), NOT J'attends pour le bus.

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