How to Conjugate "Cesser" (to Stop, Cease) in French

In French, the verb cesser means "to cease" or "to stop." This is an easy one to remember because it sounds like the English "cease" even though the spelling is slightly different. French students will also find this to be a relatively simple lesson in verb conjugations.

Conjugating the French Verb Cesser

The stem for cesser is cess and it is a regular -ER verb. This means that you simply have to add the common endings used for most -er verbs to conjugate it when you want to say "stopped" or "stopping."

Verb conjugations add an infinitive ending in order to imply the present, future, or past tense. This is the same as adding an -ed or -ing in English. It is more complicated in French, though, because we change the endings to match the subject as well as the tense.

The chart will help you navigate the various endings of cesser. Simply match the subject pronoun with the proper tense: "I cease" is "je cesse" and "we will stop" is "nous cesserons."

The Present Participle of Cesser

Using the stem of cesser, add -ant and you have the present participle cessant. In this form, cesser can work as an adjective, gerund, or noun as well as a verb.

The Passé Composé and Past Participle

The passé composé is a common way to express the past tense in French. To use it, begin by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir according to the subject. Then, simply add the past participle cessé.

As an example, "I stopped" is "j'ai cessé" and "we ceased" is "nous avons cessé." Notice how ai and avons are conjugates of avoir and the past participle is used for both subjects.

More Simple Cesser Conjugations to Know

There are a few more conjugations of cesser that you may use at times. The subjunctive and conditional are verb moods, imply a degree of uncertainty, and are used frequently. In contrast, the passé composé and imperfect subjunctive are primarily reserved for formal writing, so they can be rather rare.

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To express cesser in an exclamation, use the imperative verb form. When doing so, you can skip the subject pronoun and use the verb on its own: "cesse" rather than "tu cesse."