Simple Conjugations for "Quitter" (to Leave)

You might think that the verb quitter means "to quit" in French and you would be partially right. This verb can also mean "to leave," "to go," or "to give up." It's a very useful word that covers many situations, so adding it to your French vocabulary is a good idea.

The catch is that to use quitter in proper French grammar, you need to learn its conjugations. While that may seem scary to some students, this one is relatively easy and we'll give you the essentials you need.

The Basic Conjugations of Quitter 

Among all the French verb conjugations, quitter falls into the largest category. These are the regular -er verbs and you can apply anything you learned while studying others of this sort to form the conjugations of quitter.

With any conjugation, begin by finding the verb's radical (or stem). For quitter, that is quitt-. You will then add the appropriate ending that matches both the subject pronoun and the tense you want to use it in. For example, "I am quitting" is je quitte and "we will leave" is nous quittions. Practice these anytime you see someone leave or quit anything for a few days and they'll be easier to remember.

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	quitte	quitterai	quittais
tu	quittes	quitteras	quittais
il	quitte	quittera	quittait
nous	quittons	quitterons	quittions
vous	quittez	quitterez	quittiez
ils	quittent	quitteront	quittaient

The Present Participle of Quitter

As with most regular verbs, the present participle is formed by simply adding -ant to the radical. This results in the word quittant, which may also be used as an adjective or noun in the right context.

Quitter in the Compound Past Tense

The passé composé is a compound past tense that is frequently used in French. To form it, you'll need to conjugate avoir to the present for the subject before adding the past participle quitté. This results in j'ai quitté for "I left" and nous avons quitté for "we left."

More Simple Conjugations of Quitter

When someone may or may not leave or quit, you can imply this uncertainty with the subjunctive. If, on the other hand, they will only leave or quit if another action occurs, then you will use the conditional forms of quitter.

Both the passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive are literary tenses, so they're most often found in written French. While you may not need to use them, you should be able to read them.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	quitte	quitterais	quittai	quittasse
tu	quittes	quitterais	quittas	quittasses
il	quitte	quitterait	quitta	quittât
nous	quittions	quitterions	quittâmes	quittassions
vous	quittiez	quitteriez	quittâtes	quittassiez
ils	quittent	quitteraient	quittèrent	quittassent

A very useful verb mood for a word like quitter, the French imperative allows you to say things such as "Quit!" or "Leave!" without any formality. Feel free to drop the subject pronoun and simply say, "Quittons !"

	Imperative
(tu)	quitte
(nous)	quittons
(vous)	quittez