How to Conjugate Décider, to Decide, in French

Decide to Study This French Verb

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You may be able to guess that the French verb décider means "to decide." French students will be delighted to know that conjugating it to mean "decided" or "deciding" is almost as easy as remembering the word itself. A quick lesson will show you exactly how it's done.

Conjugating the French Verb Décider

French verb conjugations can be a headache at times. That's because we must change the infinitive verb ending for every subject pronoun as well as the present, future, or imperfect past tense. While there are more words that you need to memorize, each new one becomes a little easier.

This is particularly true with a verb such as décider. It is a regular -er verb and it follows the most common verb conjugation pattern found in the French language. To conjugate it, we simply add a variety of endings to the verb stem of décid-. For instance, "I decide" is "je décide" and "we will decide" is "nous déciderons."

Subject Present Future Imperfect
je décide déciderai décidais
tu décides décideras décidais
il décide décidera décidait
nous décidons déciderons décidions
vous décidez déciderez décidiez
ils décident décideront décidaient

The Present Participle

The present participle of décider is décidant. This is as simple as adding -ant to the verb stem. It can be used as an adjective, gerund, or noun,  as well as a verb.

The Past Participle for Décider and Passé Composé

The past participle of décider is décidé. This is used to form the passé composé, a common way to say the past tense "decided" in French. In order to use it, you will also need the subject pronoun and the matching conjugate of avoir (an auxiliary, or "helping," verb).

For example, "I decided" becomes "j'ai décidé" and "we decided" is "nous avons décidé." Note how ai and avons are conjugates of avoir and that the past participle does not change.

More Simple Conjugations

Practice those forms of décider in context as they are used most often. As your French improves, consider learning the following forms as they can be useful as well.

For instance, the subjunctive and the conditional forms are both verb moods and they imply some degree of uncertainty to the act of deciding. In literature and formal French writing, you will also find the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive in use.

Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
je décide déciderais décidai décidasse
tu décides déciderais décidas décidasses
il décide déciderait décida décidât
nous décidions déciderions décidâmes décidassions
vous décidiez décideriez décidâtes décidassiez
ils décident décideraient décidèrent décidassent

The imperative verb form is also quite useful, particularly if you want to use décider in quick statements that demand or request a decision. When using it, the subject pronoun is not required, so "tu décide" becomes "décide."

Imperative
(tu) décide
(nous) décidons
(vous) décidez
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Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate Décider, to Decide, in French." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/decider-to-decide-1370067. Team, ThoughtCo. (2023, April 5). How to Conjugate Décider, to Decide, in French. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/decider-to-decide-1370067 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate Décider, to Decide, in French." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/decider-to-decide-1370067 (accessed March 28, 2024).