conjugate essayer in french present tense

Conjugation verb essayer in French

Model : marcher / balayer

Auxiliary : avoir

Other forms: s'essayer / ne pas essayer / ne pas s'essayer

The regular verbs of the 1st group follow this conjugation model (verbs ending in -er). Verbs ending in -ayer follow at the same time this model (il balaye) and the model of balayer (il balaie)

The verb has several variants of conjugation, which may correspond to different meanings. Please use the menu to select one or all variants.

• il/elle essaye
• nous essayons
• vous essayez
• ils/elles essayent
• il/elle essaie
• ils/elles essaient
• j' essayais
• tu essayais
• il/elle essayait
• nous essayions
• vous essayiez
• ils/elles essayaient
• j' essayerai
• tu essayeras
• il/elle essayera
• nous essayerons
• vous essayerez
• ils/elles essayeront
• j' essaierai
• tu essaieras
• il/elle essaiera
• nous essaierons
• vous essaierez
• ils/elles essaieront

Passé simple

• il/elle essaya
• nous essayâmes
• vous essayâtes
• ils/elles essayèrent

Passé composé

• j' ai essayé
• tu as essayé
• il/elle a essayé
• nous avons essayé
• vous avez essayé
• ils/elles ont essayé

Plus-que-parfait

• j' avais essayé
• tu avais essayé
• il/elle avait essayé
• nous avions essayé
• vous aviez essayé
• ils/elles avaient essayé

Passé antérieur

• j' eus essayé
• tu eus essayé
• il/elle eut essayé
• nous eûmes essayé
• vous eûtes essayé
• ils/elles eurent essayé

Futur antérieur

• j' aurai essayé
• tu auras essayé
• il/elle aura essayé
• nous aurons essayé
• vous aurez essayé
• ils/elles auront essayé
• que j' essaye
• que tu essayes
• qu' il/elle essaye
• que nous essayions
• que vous essayiez
• qu' ils/elles essayent
• que j' essaie
• que tu essaies
• qu' il/elle essaie
• qu' ils/elles essaient
• que j' essayasse
• que tu essayasses
• qu' il/elle essayât
• que nous essayassions
• que vous essayassiez
• qu' ils/elles essayassent
• que j' eusse essayé
• que tu eusses essayé
• qu' il/elle eût essayé
• que nous eussions essayé
• que vous eussiez essayé
• qu' ils/elles eussent essayé
• que j' aie essayé
• que tu aies essayé
• qu' il/elle ait essayé
• que nous ayons essayé
• que vous ayez essayé
• qu' ils/elles aient essayé

Conditionnel

• j' essayerais
• tu essayerais
• il/elle essayerait
• nous essayerions
• vous essayeriez
• ils/elles essayeraient
• j' essaierais
• tu essaierais
• il/elle essaierait
• nous essaierions
• vous essaieriez
• ils/elles essaieraient

Passé première forme

• j' aurais essayé
• tu aurais essayé
• il/elle aurait essayé
• nous aurions essayé
• vous auriez essayé
• ils/elles auraient essayé

Passé deuxième forme

• j' eusse essayé
• tu eusses essayé
• il/elle eût essayé
• nous eussions essayé
• vous eussiez essayé
• ils/elles eussent essayé
• ayant essayé
• masc.sg.: essayé
• masc.pl.: essayés
• fém.sg.: essayée
• fém.pl.: essayées
• ayons essayé
• ayez essayé
• avoir essayé

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French Verb Conjugation Using "Essayer" (to Try)

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The French verb  essayer  means "to try." It's a simple word that can easily be confused with  essuyer  (to wipe) , so be sure to look and listen for that 'A' in  essayer .

In order to place  essayer  into the past, present, or future tense, the verb needs to be conjugated . Just follow along in this lesson and you'll be saying "tried" and "trying" in French before you know it.

Conjugating the French Verb  Essayer ​​

Essayer  is an optional stem-changing verb . Typically with verbs that end in - yer , the 'Y' has to change to an 'I' in certain forms. The rules are a little more casual with  essayer  as you'll see in the table. When there are two forms of the conjugation, you can use either.

The stem of  essayer  is  essay -. To this, a variety of infinitive endings is added that conform with the subject pronoun as well as the tense of the sentence. For instance, "I try" is " j'essaie " or " j'essaye ." Similarly, there are two options for "we will try": " nous essaierons " or " nous essayerons ."

All this leaves you with many words to memorize. The good news is that there are many opportunities to practice it and use  essayer  as you "try" things throughout your day.

The Present Participle of  Essayer

The  present participle  of essayer is  essayant . This is as simple as adding - ant  to the verb stem. Not only does it work as a verb, but it can also become an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The  past participle   essayé  is used to form the  passé composé , a common past tense form of "tried" in French. To use this, you'll also need to conjugate the  auxiliary verb   avoir . For example, "I tried" is " j'ai essayé " and "we tried" is " nous avons essayé ."

More Simple  Essayer  Conjugations to Know

When the action of trying is in some way questionable, you can turn to the subjunctive verb mood . Similarly, if it's dependent on something, the conditional verb mood is used.

With less frequency, you will come across the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive . These are mostly found in formal writing and will help considerably with reading comprehension.

To use  essayer  in commands or direct requests, turn to the imperative verb form . When using this, the subject pronoun is not required: use " essaie " instead of " tu essaie ."

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• Essayer conjugation table
• Essayer conjugation rules
• Essayer synonyms

Essayer french definition

Essayer conjugation in all forms, essayer conjugation in all tenses.

• Essayer : verbs with similar conjugation
• Essayer conjugation in indicative
• Essayer conjugation in present indicative
• Essayer conjugation in present perfect indicative
• Essayer conjugation in imperfect indicative
• Essayer conjugation in pluperfect indicative
• Essayer conjugation in simple past indicative
• Essayer conjugation in past perfect indicative
• Essayer conjugation in simple future indicative
• Essayer conjugation in future perfect indicative
• Essayer conjugation in subjunctive
• Essayer conjugation in present subjunctive
• Essayer conjugation in past subjunctive
• Essayer conjugation in imperfect subjunctive
• Essayer conjugation in pluperfect subjunctive
• Essayer conjugation in conditional
• Essayer conjugation in present conditional
• Essayer conjugation in past conditional
• Essayer conjugation in imperative
• Essayer conjugation in present imperative
• Essayer conjugation in past imperative
• Infinitive of french verb Essayer
• Present infinitive of french verb Essayer
• Past infinitive of french verb Essayer
• Participle of french verb essayer
• Present participle of french verb essayer
• Past participle of french verb essayer
• Gerundive of french verb essayer
• Present gerundive of french verb essayer
• Past gerundive of french verb essayer

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• Avoir conjugation
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• Simple Past Indicative
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• Past Subjunctive
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• French Conjugation
• Essayer conjugation

Conjugation of french verb essayer

Present perfect, simple past, past perfect, simple future, future perfect, subjunctive, conditional, essayer french verb, conjugation rules, reflexive form:, negative form:, interrogative form:.

• Essayer french verb conjugation rules

Essayer french synonyms

• Essayer similar verbs conjugation

This is the list of essayer french verb synonyms :

Active voice conjugation

Passive voice conjugation, reflexive form conjugation, similar verbs conjugation.

Here is the full list of verbs sharing the same verb conjugation :

List of verbs used as patterns in french conjugation:

Most common first group verbs

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'essayer' conjugation table in French

Past participle, present perfect, conditional, past historic, future perfect, past anterior, conditional perfect, subjunctive.

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All FRENCH words that begin with 'E'

essayer : Conjugation

The essayer conjugation tables below show how to form the French verb essayer according to tense and person. To listen to the pronunciation of a given tense of essayer , click on the loudspeaker icon at the bottom of the table. See the notes on the conjugation of essayer at the end of this page.

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Formes composées / compound tenses, conditionnel.

*Blue letters in conjugations are irregular forms. ( example ) *Red letters in conjugations are exceptions to the model. ( example ) *Grayed conjugations are forms that are extremely rare.

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Essayer (to try) conjugation

Conjugation of essayer, examples of essayer, more french verbs, similar but longer, other french verbs with the meaning similar to 'try':, 'try' in different languages.

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Verb Table for essayer

All conjugation types.

• Conjugation with avoir (Currently shown)
• Reflexive (conjugation with être)

Indicatif  •  Subjonctif  •  Conditionnel  •  Impératif  •  Formes impersonnelles

Passé simple, futur simple, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, passé antérieur, futur antérieur, participe présent, participe passé, browse the conjugations (verb tables).

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Conjugation French verb essayer

Translation essayer, indicatif (indicative), présent (present), passé composé (present perfect), imparfait (imperfect), plus-que-parfait (pluperfect), passé simple (simple past), passé antérieur (past perfect), futur simple (future), futur antérieur (past future), conditionnel (conditional), passé (perfect), subjonctif (subjunctive), passé (past), impératif (imperative), infinitif (infinitive), participe (participle), gérondif (gerund), synonyms for the verb essayer.

French: essayer

French verb 'essayer' conjugated.

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• Essayer Conjugation

Essayer to try, to attempt

Essayer - indicative, essayer - perfect, essayer - subjunctive, essayer - conditional, essayer - imperative (commands).

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French verb "essayer"

Translation.

• try (attempt)
• auxiliary avoir
• first group

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Conjugation

• je essaye /e.sɛj/; essaie
• tu essayes /e.sɛj/; essaies
• il;elle;on essaye /e.sɛj/; essaie
• nous essayons /e.sɛ.jɔ̃/
• vous essayez /e.sɛ.je/
• ils;elles essayent /e.sɛj/; essaient
• je essayais /e.sɛ.jɛ/
• tu essayais /e.sɛ.jɛ/
• il;elle;on essayait /e.sɛ.jɛ/
• nous essayions /e.sɛj.jɔ̃/
• vous essayiez /e.sɛj.je/
• ils;elles essayaient /e.sɛ.jɛ/

Futur simple

• je essayerai /e.sɛj.ʁe/; essaierai
• tu essayeras /e.sɛj.ʁa/; essaieras
• il;elle;on essayera /e.sɛj.ʁa/; essaiera
• nous essayerons /e.sɛj.ʁɔ̃/; essaierons
• vous essayerez /e.sɛj.ʁe/; essaierez
• ils;elles essayeront /e.sɛj.ʁɔ̃/; essaieront

Passé simple

• je essayai /e.sɛ.je/
• tu essayas /e.sɛ.ja/
• il;elle;on essaya /e.sɛ.ja/
• nous essayâmes /e.sɛ.jam/
• vous essayâtes /e.sɛ.jat/
• ils;elles essayèrent /e.sɛ.jɛʁ/

Passé composé

• je ai essayé
• tu as essayé
• il;elle;on a essayé
• nous avons essayé
• vous avez essayé
• ils;elles ont essayé

Plus-que-parfait

• je avais essayé
• tu avais essayé
• il;elle;on avait essayé
• nous avions essayé
• vous aviez essayé
• ils;elles avaient essayé

Futur antérieur

• je aurai essayé
• tu auras essayé
• il;elle;on aura essayé
• nous aurons essayé
• vous aurez essayé
• ils;elles auront essayé

Passé antérieur

• je eus essayé
• tu eus essayé
• il;elle;on eut essayé
• nous eûmes essayé
• vous eûtes essayé
• ils;elles eurent essayé
• je essayasse /e.sɛ.jas/
• tu essayasses /e.sɛ.jas/
• il;elle;on essayât /e.sɛ.ja/
• nous essayassions /e.sɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/
• vous essayassiez /e.sɛ.ja.sje/
• ils;elles essayassent /e.sɛ.jas/
• je aie essayé
• tu aies essayé
• il;elle;on ait essayé
• nous ayons essayé
• vous ayez essayé
• ils;elles aient essayé
• je eusse essayé
• tu eusses essayé
• il;elle;on eût essayé
• nous eussions essayé
• vous eussiez essayé
• ils;elles eussent essayé

Conditionnel

• je essayerais /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/; essaierais
• tu essayerais /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/; essaierais
• il;elle;on essayerait /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/; essaierait
• nous essayerions /e.sɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/; essaierions
• vous essayeriez /e.sɛ.jə.ʁje/; essaieriez
• ils;elles essayeraient /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/; essaieraient
• je aurais essayé
• tu aurais essayé
• il;elle;on aurait essayé
• nous aurions essayé
• vous auriez essayé
• ils;elles auraient essayé
• tu essaye /e.sɛj/; essaie

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Essayer Meaning & Translation – To try in French

By: Author David Issokson

Posted on Published: January 7, 2024  - Last updated: January 22, 2024

In today’s lesson we’ll have a look at the verb essayer , which means “to try”. For example, j’essaie d’apprendre le français (I try to learn French). Let’s jump right into the lesson!

Essayer Meaning & Translation

Word origin.

According to Wiktionary.org , the French verb essayer is related to the noun essai (try, attempt), which comes from the Latin verb exigere (to judge, examine, weigh) and noun exagium (weight, balance).

Present tense conjugation

Essayer is a regular ER verb. This means that its endings are the same as all other French regular ER verbs when conjugated in the present tense. Essayer has two accepted spelling patterns in the present tense. The pronunciations are the exact same.

J’essaie I try Tu essaies You try (singular, informal) Il, elle essaie He, she tries Nous essayons We try Vous essayez You try (plural, formal) Ils, elles essaient They try

J’essaye I try Tu essayes You try (singular, informal) Il, elle essaye He, she tries Nous essayons We try Vous essayez You try (plural, formal) Ils, elles essayent They try

Example sentences

In our first example sentence, essayer is simply “to try”. This example uses the word jamais (never), which we cover in our French negations lesson .

Si tu n’essaies pas, tu ne réussiras jamais.

If you don’ try, you’ll never succeed.

Essayer de + infinitive

In these two example sentnces, essayer de + infinitive means “to try to do something”.

J’essaie de chanter la chanson mais c’est très difficile.

I try to sing the song but it’s very difficult.

Je vais essayer de terminer mon projet avant demain.

I’ll try to finish my project before tomorrow

Essayer + noun

In the next two examples, essayer is followed by a noun, meaning “to try something”. Essayer can also translate to “to test”. Hence, “I test the skis” could also work as a translation for this next sentence.

The les in this example sentence is a direct object pronoun, meaning “them”. This post on our site covers object pronouns in depth.

J’essaie les nouveaux skis avant de les acheter.

I try the new skies before buying them.

Nous allons essayer le nouveau restaurant ce soir.

We are going to try the new restaurant tonight.

In French, the noun essai transaltes to “try” or “attempt” and is the origin of the English word “essay”.

Il a réussi son examen au troisième essai.

He passed the exam after the third try.

Et voilà ! You now know how to use essayer in French! Now check out our other lessons covering the verbs quitter (to leave) , bosser (to work hard) and ranger (to tidy, put away) .

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Affiliate disclosure: Below you will find affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To learn more please visit our full disclosure page . Merci!

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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Verb conjugation Essayer

• j'essa ie /j'essa ye
• tu essa ies /tu essa yes
• il essa ie /elle essa ie /il essa ye /elle essa ye
• nous essa yons
• vous essa yez
• ils essa ient /elles essa ient /ils essa yent /elles essa yent

Passé composé

• j'ai essa yé
• tu as essa yé
• il a essa yé /elle a essa yé
• nous avons essa yé
• vous avez essa yé
• ils ont essa yé /elles ont essa yé
• j'essa yais
• tu essa yais
• il essa yait /elle essa yait
• nous essa yions
• vous essa yiez
• ils essa yaient /elles essa yaient

Plus-que-parfait

• j'avais essa yé
• tu avais essa yé
• il avait essa yé /elle avait essa yé
• nous avions essa yé
• vous aviez essa yé
• ils avaient essa yé /elles avaient essa yé

Passé simple

• tu essa yas
• il essa ya /elle essa ya
• nous essa yâmes
• vous essa yâtes
• ils essa yèrent /elles essa yèrent

Passé antérieur

• j'eus essa yé
• tu eus essa yé
• il eut essa yé /elle eut essa yé
• nous eûmes essa yé
• vous eûtes essa yé
• ils eurent essa yé /elles eurent essa yé
• j'essa ierai /j'essa yerai
• tu essa ieras /tu essa yeras
• il essa iera /elle essa iera /il essa yera /elle essa yera
• nous essa ierons /nous essa yerons
• vous essa ierez /vous essa yerez
• ils essa ieront /elles essa ieront /ils essa yeront /elles essa yeront

Futur antérieur

• j'aurai essa yé
• tu auras essa yé
• il aura essa yé /elle aura essa yé
• nous aurons essa yé
• vous aurez essa yé
• ils auront essa yé /elles auront essa yé

Futur proche

• je vais essa yer
• tu vas essa yer
• il va essa yer /elle va essa yer
• nous allons essa yer
• vous allez essa yer
• ils vont essa yer /elles vont essa yer

Conditionnel

• j'essa ierais /j'essa yerais
• tu essa ierais /tu essa yerais
• il essa ierait /elle essa ierait /il essa yerait /elle essa yerait
• nous essa ierions /nous essa yerions
• vous essa ieriez /vous essa yeriez
• ils essa ieraient /elles essa ieraient /ils essa yeraient /elles essa yeraient
• j'aurais essa yé
• tu aurais essa yé
• il aurait essa yé /elle aurait essa yé
• nous aurions essa yé
• vous auriez essa yé
• ils auraient essa yé /elles auraient essa yé

Passé - forme alternative

• j'eusse essa yé
• tu eusses essa yé
• il eût essa yé /elle eût essa yé
• nous eussions essa yé
• vous eussiez essa yé
• ils eussent essa yé /elles eussent essa yé
• que j'essa ie /que j'essa ye
• que tu essa ies /que tu essa yes
• qu'il essa ie /qu'elle essa ie /qu'il essa ye /qu'elle essa ye
• que nous essa yions
• que vous essa yiez
• qu'ils essa ient /qu'elles essa ient /qu'ils essa yent /qu'elles essa yent
• que j'essa yasse
• que tu essa yasses
• qu'il essa yât /qu'elle essa yât
• que nous essa yassions
• que vous essa yassiez
• qu'ils essa yassent /qu'elles essa yassent
• que j'eusse essa yé
• que tu eusses essa yé
• qu'il eût essa yé /qu'elle eût essa yé
• que nous eussions essa yé
• que vous eussiez essa yé
• qu'ils eussent essa yé /qu'elles eussent essa yé
• que j'aie essa yé
• que tu aies essa yé
• qu'il ait essa yé /qu'elle ait essa yé
• que nous ayons essa yé
• que vous ayez essa yé
• qu'ils aient essa yé /qu'elles aient essa yé
• (tu) essa ie /(tu) essa ye
• (nous) essa yons
• (vous) essa yez

Translation

• to try, to attempt
• versuchen, probieren
• intentar, probar

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Verb conjugation of "essayer" in French

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Present tense of essayer

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Has the conjugation of essayer in the present tense changed over the years?  I learned "j'essaye" ( a long time ago ).

No, nothing has changed. French has always supported  different spellings in  the conjugated forms of essayer. In fact at school I was taught "j'essaie" and was confused when I first came across the alternative form. Payer is similar.

j'essa ie /essa ye tu essa ies /essa yes il essa ie /essa ye nous essa yons vous essa yez ils essa ient /essa yent

I see that essayer in the well used 501 french verbs uses the conjugaison with a y in all forms. It does not explain any other alternative. This is quite confusing

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Le présent: the present tense in French grammar

When to use le présent, how to conjugate the present tense in french, type 1 -ir verbs, type 2 -ir verbs, important irregular verbs: avoir, être, aller and faire.

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What is le présent ?

The present tense in French grammar (le présent) corresponds to the English simple present . It talks about facts, current situations and repeated actions in the present, as well as scheduled future actions. To conjugate a verb in the French present tense, we add specific endings to the infinitive of the verb depending on whether it ends in -er, -ir or -re.

Learn all about le présent in French grammar with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples, then put your knowledge to the test in the exercises.

Le garçon s’appelle Félix. Tous les mardis, il va à l’entraînement de football. Il joue au football depuis cinq ans.

Mardi prochain à 14 heures, son équipe a un match important.

We use the French present tense to express:

• facts and ongoing situations in the present
• actions that happen once, multiple times or never in the present
• a future action that is already planned or agreed upon (requires a specific future time indicator)
• the duration of actions that started in the past and are ongoing in the present. Note: French uses the present tense to express this idea, but English talks about duration using the present perfect simple or continuous tenses.

To conjugate French verbs in the present tense, we remove the infinitive ending (-er, -ir or -re) and add the following endings:

The table below shows the present tense conjugation of -er verbs:

Spelling Rules and Exceptions

• For verbs ending in -ger , we add an e before the letter o in the nous form in order to preserve the pronunciation of the g .
• For verbs ending in - cer , the c becomes ç before the letter o in the nous form in order to preserve pronunciation.
• For verbs ending in -yer , the y becomes an i in the singular forms as well as in the 3 rd person plural. (For verbs ending in - ayer , we can write either i or y .)
• For many verbs that end in - eler or - eter, the final consonant is doubled before a silent e . (Exceptions: acheter buy , déceler discover , geler freeze , haleter pant , harceler harass , modeler model , peler peel )
• If the final syllable of the word stem contains an e or é, we give it a grave accent ( accent grave ) in its conjugated forms (apart from the 1 st and 2 nd person plural).
• Remember: the verb aller is irregular .

The majority of -ir verbs belong to type 1, which means that the plural forms add -iss- before the present tense endings:

Many common verbs are conjugated in this way: applaudir applaud , choisir choose , divertir amuse , fleurir bloom , grandir grow , grossir put on weight , guérir cure , haïr hate , maigrir lose weight , nourrir nourish/feed , obéir obey , pâlir go pale , punir punish , ralentir slow down , remplir (re)fill , réjouir celebrate , réunir meet , réussir succeed , rougir blush , saisir grasp , vieillir to age , etc.

Type 2 -ir verbs can be divided into two kinds: verbs that are conjugated in the same way as -er verbs, and verbs that are conjugated with -s/-s/-t in the singular forms

*Other verbs that follow the same conjugation include: accueillir welcome , couvrir cover , cueillir gather , découvrir discover , ouvrir open , souffrir suffer , etc.

**Other verbs that follow the same conjugation include: courir run , fuir run away , mentir lie , partir leave , sentir feel , servir serve , sortir go out , etc.

Note: the verbs venir and tenir are completely irregular .

Regular -re verbs are conjugated as follows:

* The following verbs are conjugated in the same way as construire : conduire drive , cuire cook , déduire deduce , détruire destroy , instruire instruct , introduire introduce , nuire harm , produire produce , reproduire reproduce , réduire reduce , séduire seduce , traduire translate .

** The following verbs are conjugated in the same way as vivre: suivre follow , poursuivre chase , revivre relive , survivre survive .

Spelling Rules & Exceptions

• Verbs ending in -aître (traditional spelling) or -aitre (official spelling since 1990) such as connaître/connaitre know , paraître/paraitre appear , naître/naitre be born and their variations such as reconnaître/reconnaitre recognise , disparaître/disparaitre disappear , renaître/renaitre be reborn are conjugated as follows: Example: connaître know – je connais, tu connais, il/elle/on connaît, nous connai ss ons, vous connai ss ez, ils/elles connai ss ent

Many verbs that end in -ire (boire drink , croire believe , dire say , écrire write , faire do/make , lire read , plaire please , rire laugh ...) are irregular and change their stem in the plural forms. There is no general rule to learn the conjugations of these verbs, it’s best to learn them by heart.

Verbs that end in -dre and -tre

The verb prendre take and its related forms apprendre learn , comprendre understand , surprendre surprise , etc. lose the d in their plural forms. In addition, the n is doubled in the ils/elles form.

Verbs that end in -indre (atteindre wait , craindre fear , éteindre turn off , joindre combine , peindre paint , plaindre pity , teindre dye ...) lose the d in the singular and plural forms. In addition, we transform the n to gn in the plural forms.

Verbs that end in - oir such as recevoir receive , apercevoir glimpse , concevoir design , décevoir disappoint , percevoir perceive are conjugated as follows:

Note: the verbs avoir have , devoir must , mouvoir move , pouvoir be able to , savoir know , voir see und vouloir want are irregular and are not conjugated in the same way as recevoir . Check out their conjugations on our page on irregular verbs in French and practise in the exercises.

Le présent continu: the present progressive in French

The présent continu , also known as the présent progressif or the présent duratif , is the French equivalent of the present progressive in English (I am doing, he is going, etc.). Like its English counterpart, it demonstrates that an action or event is in progress at the moment of speaking.

The présent continu is formed as follows:

present tense conjugation of être + en train de + infinitive

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Subjunctive of the French verb essayer

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How to conjugate -er, -ir and -re verbs in french.

One of the most exciting parts of your language journey is the very beginning, when it feels like the world is open to you. You spend time imagining yourself sitting on the French Riviera, and confidently ordering a croissant at a bakery. Then, that vision becomes cloudy as you come to think about your more immediate future: learning grammar rules. Don’t let that ruin your fun! Learning to conjugate in French isn’t as hard as you might think, especially because there are some predictable rules that will help you with conquer hundreds of verbs easily.

Mastering the conjugation of refular -ir, -er, and -re verbs in various tenses is essential for fluency in the French language . In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of conjugating these verb types in the present, past ( passe compose ), future, and imperfect tenses. There are irregular verbs you’ll also need to memorize — aller, avoir, être, etc. — but working on these rules is a great first step.

Conjugating -Ir Verbs

Starting with -ir, we’ll walk you through the conjugations using the verb  finir  (“to finish”), but other verbs including  nourrir (“to feed”),  choisir (“to choose”) and  agir (“to act”) follow the same pattern.

Present Tense

The past tense works a bit differently than the present tense in French. Here, all of the  -ir endings are replaced with the same thing:  -i . To distinguish between them, the verb  avoir is conjugated (into the present tense).

Future Tense

Imperfect tense.

L’imparfait in French is used to refer to actions that were repeated or ongoing in the past.

Conjugating -ER Verbs

Next up we have -er verbs, using  parler (“to speak”) as our main example. Other common -er verbs include chercher (“to search”), étudier (“to study”) and  apporter (“to bring”).

Just like with the -ir verbs, here the same ending is added, with  -er replaced by  -é . You’ll need to add and conjugate  avoir in a way that reflects the subject of the sentence .

Conjugating -Re Verbs

Lastly comes the -re verbs. We’ll use  vendre  (“to sell”) as our example here, but it applies to all regular -re verbs including  attendre (“to wait”),  perdre (“to lose”) and  entendre (“to hear”).

One thing to note here is that the third person singular form of -er verbs has no ending at all, and so it’s just the stem alone (in this case,  vend ).

Once again we’ll mention the past tense ending on the main verb is the same for every conjugation —  -re becomes  -u — but you’ll need to add and conjugate (in the present tense!) the irregular auxiliary verb  avoir .

Practice Makes Perfect

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of how to conjugate -ir, -er and -re verbs in multiple tenses, it’s time to put your knowledge into action. Practicing regularly across various tenses will help you gain confidence and fluency in conjugating French verbs in any context.

Keep learning and practicing, and soon you’ll be conjugating French verbs effortlessly in any tense. Bonne chance ! (Good luck!)