A Guide to Conjugating the French Verb 'Couper' (to Cut)

Simple Conjugations for 'Couper'

He's adding a little color to his meal
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By ThoughtCo Team
Updated on February 28, 2020

The French verb couper means "to cut," and it is a regular -er verb. Good news: That conjugation pattern is easy to learn and memorize.

How to Conjugate Couper

You start conjugation by determining the stem of the verb. With regular -er verbs like couper, the stem is constant: Remove the -er from the infinitive, leaving coup-. Then, based on the subject pronoun and the tense you're using, you add the appropriate ending. The following tables show all the simple conjugations for couper.

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Present Future Imperfect
je coupe couperai coupais
tu coupes couperas coupais
il coupe coupera coupait
nous coupons couperons coupions
vous coupez couperez coupiez
ils coupent couperont coupaient
Subjunctive Conditional Passé simple Imperfect subjunctive
je coupe couperais coupai coupasse
tu coupes couperais coupas coupasses
il coupe couperait coupa coupât
nous coupions couperions coupâmes coupassions
vous coupiez couperiez coupâtes coupassiez
ils coupent couperaient coupèrent coupassent
a Imperative
(tu) coupe
(nous) coupons
(vous) coupez

How to Use Couper in the Past Tense

The most common way to render a verb in the past tense is to use the compound tense passé composé. Couper requires the auxiliary verb avoir, and the past participle is coupé. However, when using the reflexive se couper, the auxiliary verb is être.

For example:
Je lui ai coupé les cheveux.
I cut his hair.

Elle s'est coupé les cheveux.
She cut her hair.

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Team, ThoughtCo. "A Guide to Conjugating the French Verb 'Couper' (to Cut)." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/couper-to-cut-1370027. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). A Guide to Conjugating the French Verb 'Couper' (to Cut). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/couper-to-cut-1370027 Team, ThoughtCo. "A Guide to Conjugating the French Verb 'Couper' (to Cut)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/couper-to-cut-1370027 (accessed April 23, 2024).