Congugation of "Jeter" in French

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 Jeter is one of two verbs that means "to throw" in French, and conjugation of this common verb can be tricky for students to learn. But this stem-changing verb, like lancer (which means the same thing), is a very useful one to know. You'll use this verb to talk about sports and to describe everyday activities.

Present, Future, Imperfect

The first step in any French verb conjugation is to identify the stem and in this case, it is jet -. That's very important here because jeter is a stem-changing verb. In the conjugations, you will notice that some forms use a double 'T' while others retain the single letter from the infinitive form.

Subject Present Future Imperfect
je jette jetterai jetais
tu jettes jetteras jetais
il jette jettera jetait
nous jetons jetterons jetions
vous jetez jetterez jetiez
ils jettent jetteront jetaient

A series of infinitive endings are added to the stem to match the subject pronoun with the proper tense. For instance:

  • "je jette" > "I throw" 
  • "nous jetterons."  We will throw" 

Present and Past Participles

The present participle of jeter is formed with an -ant ending to create jetant. It's also an adjective, noun, or gerund in certain circumstances. Forming the past tense passé composé is simple. Conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir, then attach the past participle jeté. Examples:

  • "j'ai jeté" > "I threw"
  • "nous avons jeté." > "We threw"

Subjunctive, Conditional, and Other Conjugations

As you become more proficient in French, you may also need to know some of these tenses. The subjunctive verb mood implies that there's a question to the verb's action. The conditional does not guarantee it either because the action is dependent on conditions. You'll probably only find the passé composé and the imperfect subjunctive when reading French.

Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
je jette jetterais jetai jetasse
tu jettes jetterais jetas jetasses
il jette jetterait jeta jetât
nous jetions jetterions jetâmes jetassions
vous jetiez jetteriez jetâtes jetassiez
ils jettent jetteraient jetèrent jetassent

In the imperative verb form, skip the subject pronoun because it's implied in the verb. For these short exclamations, use "jette" instead of "tu jette."

Imperative
(tu) jette
(nous) jetons
(vous) jetez

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Team, ThoughtCo. "Congugation of "Jeter" in French." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/jeter-to-throw-1370465. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). Congugation of "Jeter" in French. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/jeter-to-throw-1370465 Team, ThoughtCo. "Congugation of "Jeter" in French." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/jeter-to-throw-1370465 (accessed April 25, 2024).