difference of adding 'z' to a verb

[Sarah Lee]

What is the difference between a verb like 'regarde' and a verb like 'regardez'? What does adding the 'z' mean?

[George Hunt]

When you have a simple verb like regarder (that means to look ) you put on different ending  corresponding to the subject of the verb (who it is that is doing the looking).

So if it is myself (the first person singular) then you say je regarde (=I look).

But if you want to say we look then you say nous regardons (the er from regarder, or the ez from regarde  has now changed to ons)

And again if you want to say you look then the ez ending is used and you say vous regardez.

 (you can also say tu regardes to mean "you look" so long as there is only one person who is doing the  looking )

The same process applies to all the different verbs but they don't all look exactly the same .For example vous êtes  doesn't end in ez but it is still it is  different from tu es.

We do the same thing  in english but normally only when it is he (or she or it) looks as opposed to they (or I  or you) look  

[Erwan]

You can also see the imperative forms : regarde / regardons / regardez.

[Christine]

"you can also say "tu regardes" to mean "you look" so long as there is only one person who is doing the looking"

Yes, but only as long as you're using the familiar verb form with this person...

[Crystal Kaigai]

"regarder" is a verb , and one can conjugate it to use it, for example je regarde le tele , nous regardons la tele , vous regardez la tele ... In this case I have conjugated in present tense and regarde happens in the first person "je " and regardez in the third person "vous"... When a verb has a suffix like -e or -ez consider what tense it has been conjugated on ... Hope it helps.