How to Conjugate "Danser" (to Dance)

When you want "to dance" in French, which verb would you use? If you answered danser, then you'd be correct. The similarity of the English and French words makes it an easy one to remember. It's also a relatively simple verb to conjugate into the past, present, or future tense.

Conjugating the French Verb Danser

Danser is a regular -er verb. It follows a standard verb conjugation pattern which is found in the majority of French verbs. This means that learning it is just a little easier, particularly if you've already memorized words like décider (to decide) and cuisiner (to cook).

For the simplest verb conjugations, begin by identifying the verb stem: dans-. To this, we will add a variety of infinitive endings to pair the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense of the subject. For instance, "I dance" becomes "je danse" while "we will dance" is "nous danserons."

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The Present Participle of Danser

Add the ending -ant to the stem of danser to create the present participle dansant. This is a verb, though it can be an adjective, gerund, or noun in some circumstances.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The passé composé is a common form of the past tense "danced" in French. To construct it, conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject pronoun, then attach the past participle dansé.

It's quite simple when it comes together. For example, "I danced" is "j'ai dansé" and "we danced" is "nous avons dansé."

More Simple Danser Conjugations

There may be times when you need to use one of the following forms of danser as well. However, the conjugations above should be your primary focus at first.

You can use the subjunctive verb mood when the action of dancing is uncertain. In a similar fashion, the conditional verb mood implies that the dancing will only occur if something else happens. In literature, you may also come across the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive.

For stating danser in short exclamations, requests, or demands, the imperative form is used. For instance, "Let's dance!" is "Dansons !" When creating these, skip the subject pronoun as it's implied in the verb itself.