French Spelling Change Verbs

There are two groups of otherwise regular -ER verbs that have spelling changes in certain conjugations due to hard and soft vowels. That is, they are conjugated like regular -ER verbs, except for slight spelling variations in certain conjugations in order to maintain the correct pronunciation. I call these spelling-change verbs.

The required spelling change is based on the final three letters of the verb. The actual spelling change required for the two different types of verbs is different - that is, g changes to ge in -ger verbs and c changes to ç in -cer verbs. However, the tenses and grammatical persons which need the spelling change are exactly the same. For example, in the present tense, the spelling change occurs only in the nous form of both types of verbs. So once you learn which conjugations need the spelling change and why, you'll have no trouble conjugating any spelling change verb.

Click to learn how to conjugate each type of spelling change verb and to see a list of the most common verbs:

   -CER verbs   |   -GER verbs


Note: Spelling change verbs are not the same thing as stem-changing verbs.