Key Stage 2 languages · Grammar

KS2 languages: common verbs and how they change

In English a verb barely changes: we say “I play”, “you play”, “we play” and only add an s for “he plays”. In most other languages the verb ending changes for every person doing the action. In Key Stage 2 children begin to conjugate the most useful verbs in the language their school teaches, such as the verbs for “to have”, “to be” and “to go”, and use them to speak in simple sentences.

High-frequency verbs, explained

To conjugate a verb means to give its different forms for different people: I, you, he or she, we, you (plural) and they. In French, “parler” (to speak) becomes je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez and ils parlent. In Spanish, “hablar” becomes hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis and hablan. The basic form that you find in a dictionary, such as parler or hablar, is called the infinitive. Primary schools choose the language they teach. German and Latin also change their verb endings for each person, with their own sets of endings.

The curriculum names high-frequency verbs, which means the ones people use all the time. They are the verbs for being, having, going and doing, such as être, avoir, aller and faire in French and ser, estar, tener and ir in Spanish. They are also among the most irregular verbs. “Je suis” (I am), “tu es” and “il est” look very different from être, and in Spanish “soy”, “eres” and “es” look nothing like ser. That is why children usually learn them early, as a sung or chanted set of forms, often before they meet the pattern for regular verbs.

Regular verbs follow a pattern. In French most verbs that end in -er lose that ending, and children add the endings -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez and -ent. In Spanish verbs ending in -ar take -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis and -an. At this stage many schools concentrate on the first person, “I”, and on the third person, “he” or “she”, because that is what children need to talk about themselves and others. The full set of forms, and the other endings, come gradually as children gain confidence.

There are some differences from English worth knowing about. French and Spanish say “I have nine years” for “I am nine”: “j’ai neuf ans”, “tengo nueve años”. Spanish often leaves out the little word for “I” or “we” because the ending already shows who is meant, so “hablo” is enough. And in French, several endings, such as parle, parles and parlent, sound exactly the same when spoken, which makes the spelling harder than the speaking.

Words your child will hear

Verb: A word for an action or a state, such as play, have or be.
Infinitive: The basic form of a verb, ending in -er in parler or -ar in hablar, meaning “to speak”.
Conjugate: To give the different forms of a verb for I, you, he, she, we and they.
Ending: The letters added to the verb stem, such as the -ons in nous parlons.
Subject pronoun: The little word for who is doing the action: je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles in French; yo, tú, él, ella and so on in Spanish.
Regular verb: A verb that follows the usual pattern of endings.
Irregular verb: A verb that does not follow the usual pattern, such as être or tener.

What the National Curriculum says

In Key Stage 2, pupils should be taught to:

Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English
Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: changing a verb for different people

Write in French: “I play football. My brother plays football. We play football.”

Find the infinitive: “to play” is jouer. It ends in -er, so it is a regular verb. Take off the -er to leave the stem, jou-.
```
jouer  →  jou-
```
Choose the ending that fits the person doing the action. For “I” the ending is -e, giving je joue. In French, “I” becomes j’ before a vowel, but jouer starts with a consonant sound, so it stays je.
```
je      jou + e   = joue
```
For “my brother”, think of him as “he”. The ending for he or she is also -e, giving mon frère joue. Notice the verb is the same as for “I”, so that is one less form to remember.
```
il      jou + e   = joue
```
For “we” the ending is -ons, giving nous jouons.
```
nous    jou + ons = jouons
```
Add the rest of the sentence. French says “play at football” for a sport, au football, so it is jouer au football. In Spanish the same sentence starts from a different verb, jugar, which changes inside as well as at the end: juego al fútbol, mi hermano juega al fútbol, jugamos al fútbol. That is a fair example of how verbs differ between languages.

“Je joue au football. Mon frère joue au football. Nous jouons au football.” The Spanish version is “Juego al fútbol. Mi hermano juega al fútbol. Jugamos al fútbol.”

Common mistakes and how to help

Using the infinitive in a sentence: “je parler français”

A dictionary or word list gives the infinitive, so this is the form children know best. In English the infinitive and the “I” form look the same, so the mistake does not show up in English.

What helps: Show clearly that the word in the list is the “to” form and needs an ending before it goes into a sentence. Take off -er, add the ending that fits, and say it aloud.

Translating “I am nine” as “je suis neuf ans”

Children translate word by word and choose the verb “to be” because that is what English uses.

What helps: Teach it as a chunk: j’ai neuf ans, tengo nueve años. Compare with “I am hungry”, which is also “I have hunger” in French and Spanish (j’ai faim, tengo hambre), to show that this is a normal pattern, not a one-off.

Thinking the subject word is always needed

In English a verb cannot stand without “I”, “he” or “we”. In Spanish the ending tells you who is meant, so “hablo” already means “I speak”.

What helps: Say that Spanish speakers leave out the little word unless they want to stress it. Both versions are fine for beginners, but children will hear and read the shorter one.

Applying the regular pattern to irregular verbs, as in “yo teno” instead of “tengo”

Children have just learned that endings follow a pattern and want to use it everywhere. The most common verbs are the ones that break the pattern.

What helps: Learn être and avoir, or ser and tener, as chants, because they cannot be worked out. Reassure children that the irregular ones are common, so they will meet them often and soon know them.

How to help at home

Chant the key verbs. Say “j’ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont” (or the Spanish equivalent) together in the car or while washing up. Rhythm helps these irregular forms stick, so chant them in order, then mix up the order.
Pronoun roll. Write the subject words on small cards and pick one at random. Your child has to say the matching form of a verb they are learning. Add a second pile with different verbs to mix it up.
Say what everyone is doing. At home, say what each person does in the language: “Papa prépare le dîner”, “Mamá lee el periódico”. It uses the he and she forms, which children often practise less than the “I” form.
Ask for the infinitive. When your child uses a verb correctly, ask what the dictionary form is and how they changed it. Taking a verb apart and putting it back together shows they understand the pattern, not just the sentence.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: The present tense
Key Stage 3: Talking about the past
Key Stage 3: Talking about the future
Key Stage 3: Key grammatical structures
Key Stage 3: Voices and moods
Key Stage 3: Wider vocabulary
Key Stage 3: Giving and justifying opinions
Key Stage 3: Accurate grammar and spelling