# Parler Conjugation — Every Tense of the French Verb “To Speak”

> **Parler** means “to speak”. Présent: **je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent**. It is the model for the **-er** family, which is about 90% of all French verbs — and four of those six forms are pronounced identically, because their endings are silent.

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Updated: 2026-09-16

## Présent — the six endings that cover everything

The stem parl- never moves. Only the ending changes: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Take any -er verb, chop the -er, and hang these on the end.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| je parle | I speak |
| tu parles | you speak |
| il / elle parle | he / she speaks |
| nous parlons | we speak |
| vous parlez | you speak |
| ils / elles parlent | they speak |

**⚠ Four of these are one sound** — Je parle, tu parles, il parle and ils parlent are pronounced identically — “parl”. The -e, -es and -ent endings are all silent. This is not sloppiness; it is the rule. What tells a listener who is speaking is the pronoun in front, which is why French cannot drop its subject pronouns the way Spanish and Italian can.

**The two you can hear** — Nous parlons (“par-LOHN”) and vous parlez (“par-LAY”) are the only forms with an audible ending. Those two endings are consistent across almost every verb in the language, regular or not — a rare piece of good news.

## Parler à or parler de?

The conjugation is easy; the prepositions are where people actually go wrong. Parler takes different ones depending on whether you mean the person or the topic.

| French | Means |  |
|---|---|---|
| je parle à Marie | I’m talking to Marie | the person takes à |
| je parle de Marie | I’m talking about Marie | the topic takes de |
| je lui parle | I’m talking to him / her | à → lui, never le |
| je parle français | I speak French | no article, no preposition |
| je parle le français | I speak French | also correct, slightly more formal |

**Languages take no article after parler** — Je parle français is the everyday form. Add le and it is still correct but sounds more deliberate. What you cannot do is capitalise it — French writes languages and nationalities in lower case: le français, l’anglais.

## Passé composé — the -é participle

Every regular -er verb forms its participle the same way: swap -er for -é. Parler → parlé. It sounds exactly like the infinitive, which is why the two get confused in writing.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’ai parlé | I spoke / have spoken |
| tu as parlé | you spoke / have spoken |
| il / elle a parlé | he / she spoke / have spoken |
| nous avons parlé | we spoke / have spoken |
| vous avez parlé | you spoke / have spoken |
| ils / elles ont parlé | they spoke / have spoken |

**⚠ parlé, parler and parlez** — All three are pronounced the same. The test: after a helper verb it is the participle (j’ai parlé); after another conjugated verb or a preposition it is the infinitive (je veux parler); with vous it is -ez. This is the single most common spelling mistake in written French, and native speakers make it constantly.

## Imparfait — the endings that never change

Take the nous form (parlons), drop -ons, add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Those endings are the same for **every verb in French** — there is exactly one exception in the whole language, and it is être.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| je parlais | I used to speak / was speaking |
| tu parlais | you used to speak / was speaking |
| il / elle parlait | he / she used to speak / was speaking |
| nous parlions | we used to speak / was speaking |
| vous parliez | you used to speak / was speaking |
| ils / elles parlaient | they used to speak / was speaking |

## Futur and conditionnel — the whole infinitive

For -er verbs the futur stem is simply the infinitive, unchanged: parler + -ai = je parlerai. Nothing is dropped and nothing is added.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| je parlerai | I will speak |
| tu parleras | you will speak |
| il / elle parlera | he / she will speak |
| nous parlerons | we will speak |
| vous parlerez | you will speak |
| ils / elles parleront | they will speak |

## Conditionnel — would speak

Same stem, imparfait endings: je parlerais. The e before the r is barely pronounced in speech, so je parlerais comes out close to “parl-RAY”.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| je parlerais | I would speak |
| tu parlerais | you would speak |
| il / elle parlerait | he / she would speak |
| nous parlerions | we would speak |
| vous parleriez | you would speak |
| ils / elles parleraient | they would speak |

## Subjonctif — almost identical to the présent

For regular -er verbs the subjunctive is spelled exactly like the présent in four of six forms. Only nous and vous differ, and they borrow the imparfait’s. In practice this means the subjunctive of most French verbs costs you nothing to learn.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| je parle | (that) I speak |
| tu parles | (that) you speak |
| il / elle parle | (that) he / she speak |
| nous parlions | (that) we speak |
| vous parliez | (that) you speak |
| ils / elles parlent | (that) they speak |

## Impératif — and the missing s

The tu imperative of an -er verb drops its s: parle !, not parles. Compare finis ! and vends !, which keep theirs. It comes back before y and en for pronunciation: parles-en.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| parle ! | speak! (to one person you know) |
| parlons ! | let’s speak! |
| parlez ! | speak! (formal, or to a group) |

## Plus-que-parfait — had spoken

J’avais parlé — the imparfait of the helper plus the same -é participle.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’avais parlé | I had spoken |
| tu avais parlé | you had spoken |
| il / elle avait parlé | he / she had spoken |
| nous avions parlé | we had spoken |
| vous aviez parlé | you had spoken |
| ils / elles avaient parlé | they had spoken |

## FAQ

### How do you conjugate parler in the present tense?

Je parle, tu parles, il / elle parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils / elles parlent.

### Why do je parle, tu parles and ils parlent sound the same?

Because the endings -e, -es and -ent are all silent in French. Only -ons and -ez are pronounced, which is why the subject pronoun can never be dropped.

### What are the -er verb endings?

-e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. They cover roughly 90% of French verbs — every regular -er verb uses them without exception.

### What is the difference between parler à and parler de?

Parler à is to talk to somebody; parler de is to talk about something or somebody. Because the person follows à, the pronoun is lui or leur.

### Do you say je parle français or je parle le français?

Both are correct. Je parle français is the everyday form; adding le is slightly more formal. Either way the language is lower case.

### How do you tell parlé, parler and parlez apart?

They sound identical. After a helper verb it is the participle parlé; after another verb or a preposition it is the infinitive parler; with vous it is parlez.

## Related guides

- Finir conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/finir-conjugation
- Vendre conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/vendre-conjugation
- French verb conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/french-verb-conjugation
- All free French guides: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides