Conjugation of French Verb Entrer (to Enter)

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The French verb entrer means "to enter" and it's a very useful word to know. As you use French in more conversations or travel to French-speaking regions, you'll find forms of entrer everywhere.

Just like with all verbs, when we want to say "entered" or "entering," the verb needs to be conjugated. A short lesson will demonstrate how to do that.

Conjugating the French Verb Entrer

Entrer is not only a very common verb, it also follows a very common verb conjugation pattern. This is a regular -ER verb and it shares the same infinitive endings with similar verbs like enseigner (to teach), exister (to exist), and many others.

As with all French verb conjugations, begin by identifying the verb stem: entr-. We can then add a new ending to match the present, future, or imperfect past tense with the appropriate subject pronoun. For instance, "I enter" is "j'entre" and "we will enter" is "nous entrerons."

The easiest way to memorize all these verb forms is to practice them in context. Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities in everyday life to utilize entrer.

Subject Present Future Imperfect
j' entre entrerai entrais
tu entres entreras entrais
il entre entrera entrait
nous entrons entrerons entrions
vous entrez entrerez entriez
ils entrent entreront entraient

The Present Participle of Entrer

The present participle of entrer is entrant. Not only is it a verb, you can also use it as an adjective, gerund, or noun in some circumstances.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

To express the past tense "entered," you can use either the imperfect forms or the passé composé. Forming the latter is quite simple and you might find it the easier option of the two.

To construct it, begin by conjugating the auxiliary verb être according to the sentence's subject pronoun. Then, add the past participle entré. As an example, "I entered" becomes "je suis entré" and "we entered" is "nous sommes entré."

More Simple Entrer Conjugations

Should you find that the action of entering is subjective or uncertain, use the subjunctive verb mood. Similarly, the conditional verb mood implies that "entering" will only occur if something else happens.

The possibility of needing the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive is low. That's because these are primarily reserved for writing. Yet, knowing them will help your reading comprehension.

Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
j' entre entrerais entrai entrasse
tu entres entrerais entras entrasses
il entre entrerait entra entrât
nous entrions entrerions entrâmes entrassions
vous entriez entreriez entrâtes entrassiez
ils entrent entreraient entrèrent entrassent

Forming short, direct commands or requests is very easy with the imperative verb form. When using this, the subject pronoun is not required, so "tu entre" can be "entre."

Imperative
(tu) entre
(nous) entrons
(vous) entrez
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Team, ThoughtCo. "Conjugation of French Verb Entrer (to Enter)." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/entrer-to-enter-1370246. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). Conjugation of French Verb Entrer (to Enter). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/entrer-to-enter-1370246 Team, ThoughtCo. "Conjugation of French Verb Entrer (to Enter)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/entrer-to-enter-1370246 (accessed March 28, 2024).