How to Conjugate "Aboyer" (to Bark)

The French verb aboyer means "to bark." If you want to say "the dog barked" or "the dog is barking" in French, then you would need to conjugate the verb. This is a relatively easy conjugation, but you do need to watch out for the stem change.

How to Conjugate the French Verb Aboyer

Aboyer follows the verb conjugation pattern of other stem-changing verbs. This means that the 'Y' changes to an 'I' when paired with certain subject pronouns. Other than that minor difference, aboyer uses the same endings as other -er verbs.

Using the chart, you can find the verb conjugations for aboyer as they apply to the different subject pronouns (the j', tu, nous, etc.). Simply match that up to the present, future, or imperfect past tense and you're on the way to completing a sentence.

For instance, to say "I bark," you will say "j'aboie." Don't worry, aboyer can also be interpreted as "to scream" or "to cry out" if you're not actually "barking" like a dog.

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The Present Participle of Aboyer

The equivalent to the English ending -ing in French is -ant. This is called the present participle and for aboyer, that is aboyant. This can be used as an adjective, gerund, noun, or verb.

The Passé Composé of Aboyer

You can use the imperfect past tense for aboyer, though you'll find the passé composé to be a bit easier. This can be used to express "barked" no matter the subject pronoun.

You will need to use a "helping" verb and the past participle in order to conjugate in this way. For aboyer, the auxiliary verb is avoir, which does need to be conjugated to the correct subject and tense. For the past participle, you will simply use aboyé.

Let's put that together. To say "he barked," you would use the French "il a aboyé."

More Conjugations for Aboyer

We are not done conjugating aboyer, though those are the most important forms for you to learn. As you speak and write more French, you may also find a need for the following verb forms.

The passé simple and imperfect subjunctive are used mostly in formal writing. It's likely that you may not need to use these.

Yet, you should know the subjunctive and conditional forms of aboyer as they may be useful. The subjunctive is a verb mood that expresses uncertainty. The conditional is used when the verb is dependent on certain conditions. Both moods have a degree of "maybe" to their meaning.

The imperative verb form may be very useful with aboyer. It's used for short, direct commands and requests. The thing to note with the imperative is that you can skip the subject pronoun. Instead of saying "tu aboie," you can simply say "aboie."