How to Conjugate "Grandir" (to Grow)

"Grandir" is just one French verb that means "to grow." It's an easier word to remember than croître (to grow), especially if you associate it with the English "grand." This is a very useful word to know and you'll want to understand how to conjugate it to mean "growing" or "grew."

Conjugating the French Verb Grandir​

Verb conjugations help us transform a verb into a particular tense, such as the past, present, or future. In French, this is done by adding infinitive endings to the verb stem, but there's a catch. Not only does the ending change with each tense, it also changes with each subject pronoun. That means you have more words to memorize, but with a little practice, it's not too bad.

Luckily, grandir is a regular -IR verb and it follows a common pattern in the conjugations. For instance, in the je and tu present tense, an -s is added to the verb stem grand-. This gives use "je grandis" and "tu grandis," which mean "I am growing" or "you grow" respectively. For the future tense of nous, -irons is added to create "nous grandirons," a simple way of saying "we will grow."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	grandis	grandirai	grandissais
tu	grandis	grandiras	grandissais
il	grandit	grandira	grandissait
nous	grandissons	grandirons	grandissions
vous	grandissez	grandirez	grandissiez
ils	grandissent	grandiront	grandissaient

The Present Participle of Grandir

The present participle of grandir is grandissant. This is not only a verb, but can become an adjective, gerund, or noun in certain contexts.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The past participle of grandir is grandi and it is used to form the past tense passé composé. To complete this, you must also conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to fit the subject pronoun. For instance, "I grew" is "j'ai grandi" and "we grew" is "nous avons grandi."

More Simple Grandir Conjugations to Learn

Those are the most important verb conjugations of grandir and should be the priority of your studies. As your French improves, you'll find a use for a few more forms. 

In conversation, if you want to imply that the action of growing is somehow questionable, turn to the subjunctive verb mood. Similarly, the conditional verb mood says that the growth is dependent on something else. 

If you read much French, you will surely encounter the passé simple tense of grandir. It -- along with the imperfect subjunctive -- is a literary tense and learning (or, at least, recognizing) these will help your reading comprehension.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	grandisse	grandirais	grandis	grandisse
tu	grandisses	grandirais	grandis	grandisses
il	grandisse	grandirait	grandit	grandît
nous	grandissions	grandirions	grandîmes	grandissions
vous	grandissiez	grandiriez	grandîtes	grandissiez
ils	grandissent	grandiraient	grandirent	grandissent

The imperative verb form is used for short demands and requests. In keeping with this brief statement, simplify it and do not include the subject pronoun: use "grandis" rather than "tu grandis."

	Imperative
(tu)	grandis
(nous)	grandissons
(vous)	grandissez