Semi-regular -er verbs in the future tense

Certain otherwise regular -er verbs have minor spelling (and occasionally pronunciation) irregularities because of patterns caused by the fact that the endings -ons and -ez contain a pronounced vowel, but the other endings don't. These irregularities can also show up in the future tense (click on an infinitive to see a complete verb table showing its future tense conjugation):

Verbs like appeler (and thus s'appeler) and jeter that double the final consonant to -ll- or -tt-:

These also double the consonant in the future tense forms: je jettrai, j'appellerai. (The 1990 spelling reform also proposes alternative forms j'appèlerai and je jèterai.)

Verbs like acheter where the final e of the stem gains a grave accent before an unstressed ending:

These verbs also have the accent in the future tense: j'achèterai etc.

Verbs like préférer, where the final acute changes to a grave before an unstressed ending in the present tense:

Traditionally, these words keep the accent of the infinitive: je préférerai. But there is an increasing tendency to change the accent: je préfèrerai because this better reflects the pronunciation for most speakers (see below).

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