French guides · Verb tables + audio
Manger: the silent e that keeps the g soft.
Manger means “to eat”, and it is a completely regular -er verb — with one letter added in a handful of forms to stop French spelling from mispronouncing it. Nous mangons would be read “man-GOHN” with a hard g. The e in mangeons exists purely to prevent that, and it is never pronounced itself.
Présent — and the one form that changes
Five of the six forms are textbook regular. Only nous gains the extra letter, because only nous has an ending starting with o.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je mange | I eat | |
| tu manges | you eat | |
| il / elle mange | he / she eats | |
| nous mangeons | we eat | |
| vous mangez | you eat | |
| ils / elles mangent | they eat |
In French, g is soft (“zh”) before e, i and y, and hard (“g” as in go) before a, o and u. The stem mang- needs to stay soft, so whenever an ending begins with a or o, an e is slipped in as a buffer. It is a spelling device, not a sound — mangeons is “man-ZHOHN”, two syllables.
Anywhere the ending starts with a or o: the whole imparfait singular (je mangeais), the nous imperative (mangeons !), and the passé simple. Never in the futur, where the ending starts with e.
What French eats
Two things worth knowing. French has dedicated verbs for meals, and the partitive article after manger is not optional the way “some” is in English.
| French | Means | |
|---|---|---|
| je mange du pain | I eat bread | du cannot be dropped |
| je ne mange pas de pain | I don’t eat bread | du → de after a negative |
| petit-déjeuner | to have breakfast | also the noun for it |
| déjeuner | to have lunch | a verb in its own right |
| dîner | to have dinner | same |
| on mange ? | shall we eat? | the everyday call to the table |
English drops “some” freely — “I eat bread”. French does not: it needs du, de la, de l’ or des in front of the food. After a negative, all four collapse to a bare de.
Passé composé — mangé
Perfectly regular: mangé, with avoir. No buffer e needed, because the ending starts with é.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai mangé | I ate / have eaten | |
| tu as mangé | you ate / have eaten | |
| il / elle a mangé | he / she ate / have eaten | |
| nous avons mangé | we ate / have eaten | |
| vous avez mangé | you ate / have eaten | |
| ils / elles ont mangé | they ate / have eaten |
Imparfait — where the e returns
The imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -aient all start with a, so the buffer is back in four of the six forms. Nous and vous take -ions and -iez, which begin with i, so they drop it: nous mangions, not “mangeions”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je mangeais | I used to eat / was eating | |
| tu mangeais | you used to eat / was eating | |
| il / elle mangeait | he / she used to eat / was eating | |
| nous mangions | we used to eat / was eating | |
| vous mangiez | you used to eat / was eating | |
| ils / elles mangeaient | they used to eat / was eating |
Futur and conditionnel — no buffer at all
The futur is built on the full infinitive, whose endings all begin with e or a after an r — so the g is already safe. Je mangerai, no extra letter.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je mangerai | I will eat | |
| tu mangeras | you will eat | |
| il / elle mangera | he / she will eat | |
| nous mangerons | we will eat | |
| vous mangerez | you will eat | |
| ils / elles mangeront | they will eat |
Conditionnel — would eat
Je mangerais. Often with bien: je mangerais bien une pizza, “I could go for a pizza”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je mangerais | I would eat | |
| tu mangerais | you would eat | |
| il / elle mangerait | he / she would eat | |
| nous mangerions | we would eat | |
| vous mangeriez | you would eat | |
| ils / elles mangeraient | they would eat |
Subjonctif — regular
All the endings begin with e or i, so no buffer is needed anywhere: que je mange, que nous mangions.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je mange | (that) I eat | |
| tu manges | (that) you eat | |
| il / elle mange | (that) he / she eat | |
| nous mangions | (that) we eat | |
| vous mangiez | (that) you eat | |
| ils / elles mangent | (that) they eat |
Impératif — mangeons
Mange ! with no s, and mangeons ! keeping its buffer. Bon appétit is what actually gets said at the table — and it is said before anyone starts, by everyone.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| mange ! | eat! (to one person you know) | |
| mangeons ! | let’s eat! | |
| mangez ! | eat! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had eaten
J’avais mangé.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais mangé | I had eaten | |
| tu avais mangé | you had eaten | |
| il / elle avait mangé | he / she had eaten | |
| nous avions mangé | we had eaten | |
| vous aviez mangé | you had eaten | |
| ils / elles avaient mangé | they had eaten |
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Quick answers
Manger, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.