Learn the Conjugates of "Peser" (to Weigh) in French

Meaning "to weigh," the French verb peser is used for measurements, but it can also be used to say "to ponder," as in "to weigh the consequences." It's an interesting verb and the conjugations require a stem change, which does make it a little trickier than others. Don't worry, though, a quick lesson in peser's most useful forms will explain everything.

The Basic Conjugations of Peser

Peser is a stem-changing verb. Not only do you have to concern yourself with adding the correct ending, there's also a difference in spelling to watch for.

This change comes primarily in the present and future tenses of the indicative mood, though it will appear elsewhere as well. As you can see in the chart, there are times in which the e of the verb stem is accented è. This happens often in verbs that end in -e_er.

Other than that, peser is conjugated much like any regular -er verb. You'll apply the same endings as you would for words like tomber (to fall) and that does make this a little easier for experienced French students.

Beginning with the verb stem (or radical), which is pes-, match the subject pronoun and the tense in the chart. This will help you learn that je pèse means "I am weighing" and that nous pesions means "we weighed."

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	pèse	pèserai	pesais
tu	pèses	pèseras	pesais
il	pèse	pèsera	pesait
nous	pesons	pèserons	pesions
vous	pesez	pèserez	pesiez
ils	pèsent	pèseront	pesaient

The Present Participle of Peser

The present participle of peser does not require the stem change. Instead, you'll simply add -ant to the verb stem to create the word pesant.

Peser in the Compound Past Tense

Passé composé is the French compound past tense and it is used frequently. To form it, you'll need to conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to the present tense and follow it with the past participle pesé. The results are phrases such as j'ai pesé for "I weighed" and nous avons pesé for "we weighed."

More Simple Conjugations of Peser

Peser can also be useful in a few other simple conjugations. For instance, if you're uncertain if something is being weighed, you can use the subjunctive. On the other hand, if the weighing is dependent on certain conditions, the conditional is used. 

The passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive are literary tenses and you'll encounter these most often in formal French writing.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	pèse	pèserais	pesai	pesasse
tu	pèses	pèserais	pesas	pesasses
il	pèse	pèserait	pesa	pesât
nous	pesions	pèserions	pesâmes	pesassions
vous	pesiez	pèseriez	pesâtes	pesassiez
ils	pèsent	pèseraient	pesèrent	pesassent

The only time when it's okay to drop the subject pronoun is when you're using peser in the imperative. This is for short statements that get to the point, so use pèse rather than tu pèse.

	Imperative
(tu)	pèse
(nous)	pesons
(vous)	pesez