Semi-regular -er verbs (1)

A number of otherwise perfectly regular -er verbs have some minor spelling rules that come into play in forming the present tense (and indeed some other tenses). These spelling rules generally aim to keep the relationship consistent between a letter (or sequence of letters) and the sound represented. Two types of re-alignment generally take place:

1. Orthographically-motivated ("spelling-system-motivated") changes because the letters g and c represent a different sound before a and o than before the other written vowels;
2. Phonologically-motivated ("sound-system-motivated") changes because the 'mute e' and 'closed e' sounds (generally represented in the spelling by an unaccented e and é respectively) don't occur in a closed syllable in French.

We look look at these rules on the following pages.

French grammar index  French-English dictionary  English-French dictionary