How to Conjugate "Cuisiner" (to Cook)

"Cook" Up a Quick Lesson in French Verb Conjugations

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When you want to say "to cook" in French you have two options. One is cuire and the other is cuisiner, which is the subject of this verb conjugation lesson. Since we borrowed the word "cuisine" in English to speak about styles of food, this one should be easy to remember.

Conjugating the French Verb Cuisiner

Cuisiner is a regular -ER verb and that makes conjugating it to the past, present, or future tense just a little easier. That's because this is the most common verb conjugation pattern found in French. Once you learn the appropriate verb endings for cuisiner, you can apply them to countless other verbs.

To conjugate cuisiner, begin by identifying the verb stem: cuisin-. To this, various endings are added to match the tense to the appropriate subject pronoun for your sentence. For example, "I cook" is "je cuisine" and "we will cook" is "nous cuisinerons."

Subject Present Future Imperfect
je cuisine cuisinerai cuisinais
tu cuisines cuisineras cuisinais
il cuisine cuisinera cuisinait
nous cuisinons cuisinerons cuisinions
vous cuisinez cuisinerez cuisiniez
ils cuisinent cuisineront cuisinaient

The Present Participle of Cuisiner

The present participle of cuisiner is cuisinant. This is formed by simply adding -ant to the verb stem and it can also act as an adjective, gerund, or noun. 

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

A common way to express the past tense "cooked" in French is with the passé composé. To construct it, you must first conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject pronoun. The past participle cuisiné is then added.

It all comes together quickly: "I cooked" is "j'ai cuisiné" and "we cooked" is "nous avons cuisiné." Note how ai and avons are conjugates of avoir and that the past participle does not change.

More Simple Cuisiner Conjugations

Among the other simple conjugations of cuisiner that you might need are the following. The verb moods of the subjunctive and the conditional imply that the action of cooking may not be guaranteed. In literature, you might also find the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive.

Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
je cuisine cuisinerais cuisinai cuisinasse
tu cuisines cuisinerais cuisinas cuisinasses
il cuisine cuisinerait cuisina cuisinât
nous cuisinions cuisinerions cuisinâmes cuisinassions
vous cuisiniez cuisineriez cuisinâtes cuisinassiez
ils cuisinent cuisineraient cuisinèrent cuisinassent

To express cuisiner in exclamations, requests, or demands, use the imperative form. When doing so, the subject pronoun is not required: use "cuisine" rather than "tu cuisine."

Imperative
(tu) cuisine
(nous) cuisinons
(vous) cuisinez
Format
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Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate "Cuisiner" (to Cook)." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/cuisiner-to-cook-1370050. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). How to Conjugate "Cuisiner" (to Cook). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/cuisiner-to-cook-1370050 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate "Cuisiner" (to Cook)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/cuisiner-to-cook-1370050 (accessed March 29, 2024).