How to Conjugate "Chauffer" (to Heat) in French

In French, the verb chauffer means "to heat." This can easily be confused with chauffeur as in "driver." To keep it straight, think of the verb more like a "chaffing" dish, meaning a heated food serving platter you often see at buffets or banquets.

Conjugating the French Verb Chauffer​

As with all French verbs, we need to conjugate chauffer in order for it to mean "heating" or "heated." The -ing and -ed endings are English conjugations and they are universal to the subject. Yet, in French, we must match the verb with the tense as well as the subject: the endings for "we" is different than the endings for "I."

While verb conjugations are challenging for many French students, those that end in -er often follow a prescribed pattern. Chauffer is one of those because it is a regular -er verb. We take the stem of chauff and add particular endings according to the subject and tense. These same endings are used for similar verbs like brûler (to burn) and allumer (to light), making each a little easier to learn than the first.

Using the chart, pair the subject pronoun to the proper tense for your subject. For example, "I heat" is "je chauffe" and "we will heat" is "nous chaufferons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	chauffe	chaufferai	chauffais
tu	chauffes	chaufferas	chauffais
il	chauffe	chauffera	chauffait
nous	chauffons	chaufferons	chauffions
vous	chauffez	chaufferez	chauffiez
ils	chauffent	chaufferont	chauffaient

The Present Participle of Chauffer

The present participle of chauffer is chauffant. For this conjugation, it is as easy as adding -ant to the verb stem. It is used as a verb and will also work as an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

A common way to express the past tense "heated" in French is to use the passé composé. To do this, conjugate the auxiliary, or "helping" verb avoir to the correct subject, then add the past participle chauffé.

For instance, "I heated" becomes "j'ai chauffé" and "we heated" is "nous avons chauffé." You should note that ai and avons are conjugates of avoir. Also, the past participle does not change when the subject does.

More Simple Chauffer Conjugations to Know

At first, students should focus on the present, past, and future forms of chauffer as these are used most often. With experience, you may also find a use for the subjunctive or conditional verb forms. Both of these imply some degree of uncertainty to the verb.

In rare instances and primarily in literature, you will see the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive forms of chauffer. While you may not use or need them yourself, you should at least be able to recognize and associate them with "to heat."

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	chauffe	chaufferais	chauffai	chauffasse
tu	chauffes	chaufferais	chauffas	chauffasses
il	chauffe	chaufferait	chauffa	chauffât
nous	chauffions	chaufferions	chauffâmes	chauffassions
vous	chauffiez	chaufferiez	chauffâtes	chauffassiez
ils	chauffent	chaufferaient	chauffèrent	chauffassent

For short and direct exclamations, use chauffer in the imperative form. To do so, there's no need to include the subject pronoun. Rather than saying "tu chauffe," you can simply say "chauffe."

	Imperative
(tu)	chauffe
(nous)	chauffons
(vous)	chauffez