Conjugating the Irregular French Verb 'Conduire' ('to Drive')

Conduire, meaning "to drive, take, lead or conduct," is a highly irregular French -re verb that doesn't follow regular conjugation patterns. Within irregular French -re verbs, there are a few verbs that demonstrate patterns, including verbs conjugated like prendre, battre, mettre and rompre, and verbs ending in -craindre, -peindre and -oindre.

Conduire, to the contrary, is one of those highly irregular French verbs with conjugations so unusual and unwieldy that they don't fall into any pattern. They are so irregular you just have to memorize them to use them correctly. These very irregular -re verbs include: absoudre, boire, clore, conclure, conduire, confire, connaître, coudre, croire, dire, eacute;crire, faire, inscrire, lire, moudre, naître, plaire, rire, suivre, and vivre. 

The table below shows the irregular simple conjugations of conduire. Note that the table does not include compound conjugations, which consist of a form of the auxiliary verb avoir and the past participle. 

Simple Conjugations of the Irregular '-re' Verb 'Conduire'

'Conduire': Uses and Expressions

Read More

How to Conjugate the Irregular French Verb 'Construire' ('to Build')

By Laura K. Lawless

Conduire les enfants à l'école –> To take or drive the children to school

Conduire à –> to lead to

Conduire quelqu'un jusqu'à la porte –> to see someone to the door

Conduire à droite/gauche –> to drive on the left / right

Conduire bien/mal/vite –> to drive well, badly, fast

Conduire les travaux –> to supervise the work

Conduire un orchestre –> to conduct an orchestra

Ça conduit l'électricité. –> That conducts electricity.

Se conduire –> to be driven

Elle se conduit mal. –> She conducts herself / behaves badly

Conduire une delegation/ revolt –> to lead a delegation / revolt

Other Verbs Ending in '-uire'

There are several more highly irregular verbs ending in -uire; they are all conjugated like conduire. Some of these are:

• traduire –> translate 
• introduire –> introduce 
• induire –> to incite, induce 
• éconduire –> to get rid of, jilt, reject 
• construire –> to construct
• séduire –> to seduce 
• enduire –> to coat, cover, plaster 
• produire –> to produce 
• cuire –> to cook 
• détruire –> to destroy 
• réduire –> to reduce 
• instruire –> to instruct, teach, instruct, educate 
• reproduire –> to reproduce 
• reconduire –> to escort, renew, show to the door 
• reconstruire –> to reconstruct 
• s'autodétruire –> to self-destruct 
• réintroduire –> to reintroduce 
• déconstruire –> to deconstruct 
• recuire –> to cook longer, to soak 
• surproduire –> to overproduce 
• méconduire –> to misbehave 
• coproduire –> to coproduce 
• nuire –> to harm