How to Conjugate the French Word "Disparaître"

French verb conjugations can be challenging, particularly when it comes to words like disparaître. Meaning "to disappear," this is an irregular verb and that makes memorizing its many conjugates difficult. Yet, a quick lesson and some dedicated practice will help you out tremendously.

Conjugating the French Verb Disparaître

In English, we use -ing and -ed endings for verb conjugations. It's more complex in French because the ending changes not only from the past to the present or future tense but also with the number of people or things we're talking about.

Disparaître is an irregular verb and while it is not the most common conjugation pattern, nearly all French verbs ending in -aître are conjugated in the same way. While you are learning and practicing these conjugations, you may want to tackle two or three similar words to make the entire group just a little easier.

Using the table, study each of the disparaître conjugations. Simply pair the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense and you're on the way to forming a complete sentence. For instance, "I am disappearing" is "je disparaîs" and "we will disappear" is "nous disparaîtrons."

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Conjugating "Apparaître" (to Appear)

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The Present Participle of Disparaître

The  present participle of disparaître is disparaissant. Not only is this a verb, it can also become an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The passé composé is another popular way to express the past tense "disappeared" in French. To form it, begin by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir to fit the subject pronoun, then add the past participle disparu. For example, "I disappeared" is "j'ai disparu"  while "we disappeared" is "nous avons disparu."

More Simple Disparaître Conjugations to Learn

Should you find that the action of disappearing is questionable or not guaranteed, the subjunctive verb mood can be used. In a similar fashion, the conditional verb mood implies that the action will only happen if something else occurs.

The passé simple is primarily found in formal French writing, so you may not use it yourself. The same can be said of the imperfect subjunctive, though it is good to be able to recognize these as forms of disparaître.

In the imperative verb form, disparaître is used for short commands and requests. There is no need to include the subject pronoun here: simplify "tu disparais" to "disparais."