How to Conjugate 'Compléter,' to Complete

As you might suspect, the French verb compléter means "to complete." It's a very useful word to add to your vocabulary. As with all verbs, when you want to say "completed" or "completing," a conjugation is necessary. This French lesson will walk you through the process.

Compléter Conjugation

In English, we conjugate verbs by adding an -ing or -ed ending to change from the present to the past tense. The same is done in French, though it's a little more complex. That's because there is a different infinitive ending for every subject pronoun in every tense.

Compléter is a stem-changing verb as well. This poses a special challenge in the conjugations. While it's not a big deal in the pronunciation, it matters when the word is written down.

In the conjugation chart, look closely and you will notice that the accented e changes along the way. This happens often in verbs ending in -é_er, such as accéder (to reach). Also, for the future tense, you can use either the grave è or acute é.

Beyond that, the conjugations are rather simple. Study the chart and pair the proper subject pronoun with the appropriate tense. For instance, "I complete" is "je compléte" and "we will complete" is "nous compléterez" or "nous complèterez."

Present Participle

The present participle of compléter is complétant. This can be used as a verb, of course, but also serves as an adjective, gerund, or noun in some circumstances.

Passé Composé and Past Participle

The passé composé is a common form of the past tense in French. It's formed by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject, then attaching the past participle complété.

To put this together, "I completed" is "j'ai complété" and "we completed" is "nous avons complété." The ai and avons are conjugations of avoir.

More Simple Conjugations

There may be times when the action of completing is uncertain. That is when you might employ either the subjunctive or conditional verb forms. In literature, you may see the passé simple or imperfect subjunctive in use.

To use compléter in an exclamation, use the imperative form. When doing this, you can skip the subject pronoun, so rather than "tu compléte," you can simply say "compléte."