How to Conjugate "Louer" (to Rent)

A Quick Lesson in a Simple French Verb Conjugation

For Rent Sign
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The French verb louer means "to rent." When you need to say "rented," "renting," or "will rent" a conjugation is required. French students will be delighted to know that this one's pretty easy because it follows the most common verb conjugation pattern found in the language.

Conjugations of the French Verb Louer

Louer is a regular -er verb and the endings required in the conjugations follow the pattern of similar words. If you know how to conjugate inviter (to invite), fumer (to smoke), or any other verbs that end in -er, then this will be an easy lesson.

The trick to French verb conjugations is that the ending changes with the subject pronoun as well as the past, future, or present tense. First, you must identify the verb stem and in this case, that is lou-

With that information, follow the table to discover the appropriate endings for each form of louer. For example, "I am renting" is "je loue" and "we will rent" is "nous louerons." Practicing these in context using simple sentences will make them easier to memorize.

Subject Present Future Imperfect
je loue louerai louais
tu loues loueras louais
il loue louera louait
nous louons louerons louions
vous louez louerez louiez
ils louent loueront louaient

The Present Participle of Louer

The present participle of louer is louant. This was formed by simply adding -ant to the verb stem. Beyond its use as a verb, it can also become an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

The Passé Composé and Past Participle

The passé composé is a common way to express the past tense in French. It's very easy and requires the use of the past participle loué. In order to complete the construction, conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to fit the subject pronoun.

For instance, "I rented" becomes "j'ai loué" while "we rented" is "nous avons loué." Notice how ai and avons are conjugates of avoir, yet the past participle does not change.

More Simple Louer Conjugations to Learn

Those are the most important conjugations of louer that you should know. Once you learn those, consider studying these other simple forms.

The subjunctive verb mood is used when the action of renting is uncertain. Similarly, the conditional verb mood implies that the renting will only happen if something else does. In formal French writing, you will likely come across the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive as these are literary verb forms.

Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
je loue louerais louai louasse
tu loues louerais louas louasses
il loue louerait loua louât
nous louions louerions louâmes louassions
vous louiez loueriez louâtes louassiez
ils louent loueraient louèrent louassent

The imperative verb form is used in short demands and exclamations. When using it, skip the subject pronoun: use "loue" instead of "tu loue."

Imperative
(tu) loue
(nous) louons
(vous) louez
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Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate "Louer" (to Rent)." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/louer-to-rent-1370493. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). How to Conjugate "Louer" (to Rent). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/louer-to-rent-1370493 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate "Louer" (to Rent)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/louer-to-rent-1370493 (accessed March 28, 2024).