Learn to Conjugate the French Verb "Tuer" (to Kill)

When you want to say "killing" or "killed" in French, you'll use the verb tuer. To get it into the present or past tense, however, you will also need to know its conjugations. A quick lesson will introduce you to the essential forms of tuer that you'll need.

The Basic Conjugations of Tuer

As with all French verb conjugations, you will have quite a few words to memorize for tuer. It is a regular -er verb, though, so if you've studied similar words, you can apply the same endings here.

The key to any conjugation is to begin with the verb stem (or radical). For tuer, this is tu-. From there, simply match the subject pronoun with the tense that's appropriate for your sentence. As an example, je tue means "I am killing" and nous tuerons means "we will kill."

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	tue	tuerai	tuais
tu	tues	tueras	tuais
il	tue	tuera	tuait
nous	tuons	tuerons	tuions
vous	tuez	tuerez	tuiez
ils	tuent	tueront	tuaient

The Present Participle of Tuer

When you add -ant to the stem of tuer, the present participle is formed. The result is tuant, which can be an adjective or noun as well as a verb.

Tuer in the Compound Past Tense

Another simple conjugation and alternative to the imperfect is the passé composé. This is a compound past tense, but it's relatively easy to construct once you know the rules.

To begin, conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to the subject's present tense. Then attach the past participle tué, which indicates that something has already been killed. The result is, for example, j'ai tué for "I killed" and nous avons tué for "we killed."

More Simple Conjugations of Tuer

When you're unsure if any killing has happened, you can use the subjunctive of tuer. Yet, if the killing is dependent on certain conditions, you'll use the conditional. The passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive are both literary tenses and you'll find them in formal French writing.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	tue	tuerais	tuai	tuasse
tu	tues	tuerais	tuas	tuasses
il	tue	tuerait	tua	tuât
nous	tuions	tuerions	tuâmes	tuassions
vous	tuiez	tueriez	tuâtes	tuassiez
ils	tuent	tueraient	tuèrent	tuassent

To use tuer in short, direct commands or requests, the French imperative is used. In this case, the subject pronoun is dropped so tu tue becomes tue.

	Imperative
(tu)	tue
(nous)	tuons
(vous)	tuez