How to Conjugate Regretter (to Regret) in French

As you might suspect, the French verb  regretter  means to regret. While the English-French similarity makes remembering the word easy enough, it still needs to be conjugated to make a complete sentence. Its not a very challenging verb, though, and French students with some experience will find this lesson relatively easy. The Basic Conjugations of  Regretter Regretter is a regular -er verb, so transforming it to mean regretted, regretting, or will regret uses the same endings as most French verbs. If you have previously studied common words like tomber (to fall) or tourner (to turn), the same rules you already know will apply here. The conjugation patterns are most apparent in the indicative mood, which includes the frequently used present, future, and imperfect past tenses. The chart will show you, for instance, that an  e  is added to the verb stem (regrett-) to form  je regrette  (I am regretting). If you add  -ions, you get the imperfect  nous regrettions  (we regretted). After a few verbs, these endings become easier to remember and practicing regretter in simple sentences will also help. Present Future Imperfect je regrette regretterai regrettais tu regrettes regretteras regrettais il regrette regrettera regrettait nous regrettons regretterons regrettions vous regrettez regretterez regrettiez ils regrettent regretteront regrettaient The Present Participle of  Regretter The present participle of regretter uses the same -ant ending as all other regular verbs with this ending. This gives you the word regrettant, which, at times, can act as a noun or adjective as well as a verb. Regretter  in the Compound Past Tense In French, the compound past tense is known as the  passà © composà ©. It requires two elements, the first of which is the present tense conjugate of the auxiliary verb  avoir. The other is the  past participle  regrettà ©. The two combine to form phrases such as  jai regrettà ©Ã‚  (I regretted) and  nous avons regrettà © (we regretted). More Simple Conjugations of  Regretter You will find a few more basic conjugations helpful in your French conversations. For instance, should you feel that the act of regretting is uncertain,  the subjunctive  can help you imply that. Similarly,  the conditional  says that someone will have regrets only if something else happens as well. Both  the passà © simple  and  imperfect subjunctive  are literary forms. Theyre used almost exclusively in French literature rather than conversation, though they are good to know. Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je regrette regretterais regrettai regrettasse tu regrettes regretterais regrettas regrettasses il regrette regretterait regretta regrettà ¢t nous regrettions regretterions regrettà ¢mes regrettassions vous regrettiez regretteriez regrettà ¢tes regrettassiez ils regrettent regretteraient regrettà ¨rent regrettassent Should you find yourself needing to use  regretter  in short and very direct statements, you can use  the  imperative.  The main thing to remember here is that the subject pronoun is not required: use  regrette  rather than  tu regrette. Imperative (tu) regrette (nous) regrettons (vous) regrettez