How to Conjugate "Croiser" (to Fold, Cross, Pass, Cut Across)

The French verb croiser means "to fold" or "to cross, pass, or cut across." This is a slightly different meaning than the verb traverser (to cross).

In order to use croiser in the past, present, or future tense, it needs to be conjugated. French students who dread conjugations will be delighted to know that this one's pretty straightforward.

Conjugating the French Verb Croiser

Croiser is a regular -ER verb and it follows the verb conjugation pattern of similar verbs like confier (to confide), cacher (to hide), and many other verbs. It's the most common pattern in the French language and the conjugations become easier with each new one you learn.

To conjugate croiser, you will begin with the verb stem of crois-. To this, a variety of common endings is added according to the subject pronoun as well as the tense. For instance,  "I fold" is "je croise" and "we will fold" is "nous croiserons."

The Present Participle of Croiser

The present participle of croiser is just as easy. Simply add -ant to the stem and you have croisant. This works as a verb, but can also be used as an adjective, gerund, or noun in some circumstances.

Another Past Tense Form

The imperfect is not your only option for the past tense "folded." You can use the passé composé instead. To do so, conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir according to the subject pronoun, then add the past participle croisé.

As an example, "I folded" becomes "j'ai croisé" and "we folded" is "nous avons croisé."

More Simple Croiser Conjugations to Learn

Those are the most important conjugations, though you may need or encounter one of the following in your French as well. The subjunctive and conditional imply some sort of uncertainty or question to the verb. Those are used more often than the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive, which are mostly found in writing.

The imperative form may be useful as well and it's the easiest of them all. When using croiser in the imperative, there's no need for the subject pronoun: use "croise" rather than "tu croise."