What Is the Conjugation for "Accéder" (to Reach, to Attain)

When you want to say "to reach" or "to accede" in French, you will use the verb accéder. As with all verbs, it needs to be conjugated to fit the meaning of the sentence. It's a rather simple conjugation, but there are a few things you need to watch out for.

Conjugations for the French Verb Accéder

Just as we do in English with the endings -ed and -ing, it's necessary to conjugate French verbs. By changing the word's ending, the verb will match the subject pronoun as well as the tense of the sentence.

By using these charts, you can quickly learn the conjugations for the various forms of accéder. For instance, to say "I reach" or "I attain" in French, you will say "j'accéde."

You will notice that accéder has two options for the future tense and conditional forms. This is because stem-changing verbs that end in é_er have an optional change. You can use either of the 'E' accents - grave è or acute é - in these conjugations.

The Present Participle of Accéder

The present participle for accéder is accédant. The -ant ending is used in a similar manner to the English -ing. This form can be used as a verb, but also works as an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

The Passé Composé of Accéder

Besides the imperfect past tense, you can also use the passé composé form of accéder. This is actually quite common in French and you'll find it easier than remembering all of the imperfect conjugations.

To use the passé composé, you will need to conjugate the auxiliary verb, which in this case is avoir. You will also need accéder's past participle of accédé.

These elements come together to cover any number of subjects. For instance, for "I reached," you will simply say "j'ai accédé." When you want to say "we attained," it is "nous avons accédé." The ai and avons are the conjugations for avoir.

More Conjugations for Accéder

You may not use all of the following conjugations in your French, but as you learn more they may become useful.

The subjunctive form refers to a "mood" and implies that the verb is subjective or uncertain. Similarly, the conditional verb mood applies when the action may or may not happen. It is dependent on conditions.

Both the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive are mostly found in formal French writing.

Another useful conjugation for accéder is the imperative, which is used for direct commands and requests. For this form, you can skip the subject pronoun as that is implied with the verb form. For instance, instead of saying "vous accédez," you can simply say "accédez."