How to Conjugate "Attacher" (to Attach)

The French verb attacher means "to attach, fasten, bind, or tie up." French students will be happy to know that it is rather easy to conjugate this verb. A quick lesson is all you should need.

Conjugating the French Verb Attacher

Verb conjugations in French are a bit more of a challenge than in English. Rather than adding simple -ed or -ing endings to a verb, the French language uses many different endings that you will need to memorize.

Attacher is a regular -ER verb. This means that it follows the standard changes to the ending as you move from subject and tense. 

The chart will help you memorize the conjugations. Simply match the subject pronoun to the present, future, or imperfect past tense. For example, "I attach" is "j'attache" and "we will attach" is "nous attacherons."

Attacher's Present Participle

The present participle for attacher is formed by dropping the -er and adding -ant to form attachant. Not only does this act as a verb, but you can use it as an adjective, gerund, or noun as well.

The Passé Composé of Attacher

The passé composé is a common form of the past tense in French. For attacher, you will combine the appropriate conjugate of the auxiliary verb avoir with the past participle attaché.

As an example, to say "I attached," you will use "j'ai attaché. As the subject changes, only the subject pronoun and avoir conjugate will change: "we tied up" becomes "nous avons attaché."

More Conjugations of Attacher

When you're just starting out, concentrate on learning the present, future, and passé composé of attacher. As you speak and read more French, you may find other forms to be useful as well.

The subjunctive and conditional forms are "verb moods" and imply a certain level of uncertainty or ambiguity in the action. If you're reading or writing formal French, you may also encounter or use the passé simple or imperfect subjunctive.

The imperative form of attacher will be useful when it's used in short, direct requests or demands. For this form, there's no need to use the subject pronoun and you can simply say attachons rather than "tu attachons."