How to Conjugate "Accompagner" (to Accompany)

The French for "to accompany" may sound like "accompanier," but it is actually spelled accompagner. It's a common error among those learning French because of 'GN' pronunciation, which is more of a 'NI' sound. Think of the words onion and champagne and you'll get it right.

Nonetheless, as with all verbs, we must conjugate accompagner. Now that you know the correct spelling, the conjugation will be a breeze.

Conjugating the French Verb Accompagner

The verb accompagner follows the verb conjugation pattern of regular -er verbs. This means that the conjugates should be rather easy to remember, especially if you've worked with similar verbs before.

In order to conjugate accompagner, use the chart to match the subject pronoun with the proper tense. For example, to say "I accompany," you will say "j'accompagne" and "we will accompany" is "nous accompagnerons."

Accompagner's Present Participle

The present participle for accompagner is accompagnant. This is a very easy transition because you simply replace the -er with -ant. As with all present participles, you can use this as an adjective, gerund, or noun as well as a verb.

The Passé Composé of Accompagner

While you can use the imperfect past tense, it's more common to use the passé composé in French. The same past participle of accompagné can be used for all subjects, which makes your conjugation even easier.

In order to complete the passé composé, you will also need the auxiliary verb of avoir, which needs to be conjugated.

For example, to say "we accompanied" in French, you will say "nous avons accompagné." Likewise, "I accompanied" is "j'ai accompagné."

More Accompagner Conjugations

When studying verb conjugations, concentrate on the present, future, and passé composé, but keep these others in mind. You may find them useful in the future.

The subjunctive form is used when the action is uncertain and the conditional when it's dependent on something. You will typically only find the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive in formal writing.

The imperative verb form is another easy one because it's a bit of a shortcut. Instead of saying "tu accompagne" you can drop the pronoun and stick with "accompagne." The tu is implied in the verb form and this is useful for quick, direct requests and commands.