How to Conjugate "Attraper" (to Catch, to Pick Up)

In French, the verb attraper means "to catch" or "to pick up." What if you wanted to say "I picked up"? Then you would need to conjugate the verb into the past tense, which is either "j'attrapais" or "j'ai attrapé."

There are, of course, other conjugations for attraper which French students will want to know. A quick lesson in transforming it to match the present, future, and past tenses will help.

Conjugating the French Verb Attraper

Attraper is a regular -ER verb. This means that it's relatively easy to conjugate because it follows a prescribed pattern. Once you learn which endings to use, you can apply that knowledge to similar verbs such as attacher (to attach) and blesser (to hurt).

In order to find the correct conjugation, use the chart and pair the subject pronoun -- the I, you, we, etc., or in French j', tu, nous -- with the appropriate tense for your sentence. For example, "I catch" is "j'attrape" and "we will pick up" is "nous attraperons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
j'	attrape	attraperai	attrapais
tu	attrapes	attraperas	attrapais
il	attrape	attrapera	attrapait
nous	attrapons	attraperons	attrapions
vous	attrapez	attraperez	attrapiez
ils	attrapent	attraperont	attrapaient

The Present Participle of Attraper

The present participle of attraper is a verb, but it can also act as an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed. To make this change, we simply replace the -er with -ant to form the word attrapant.

Another Past Tense of Attraper

You have two options when using attraper in the past tense. One is the imperfect and the other is known as passé composé, which is more common and a little easier.

In order to use the passé composé, you will need two elements. First, is the appropriate conjugate for avoir, which is an auxiliary verb. Second is the past participle attrapé and this does not change with the subject pronoun.

As an example, to say "I picked up" in French, you will use " j'ai attrapé." In a similar fashion, "we caught" is "nous avons attrapé." Notice how the ai and avons are the conjugates of avoir.

More Attraper Conjugations

When you are starting out, feel free to concentrate on the present, future, and past tenses of attraper. As you dive further into French, you may also find a need for some of the following verb forms.

You will find the subjunctive and conditional useful when the action is suspect, in question, or uncertain. The passé simple and imperfect subjunctive are primarily found in formal writing. While these are not common, it's good to at least be able to recognize them and associate them with attraper.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
j'	attrape	attraperais	attrapai	attrapasse
tu	attrapes	attraperais	attrapas	attrapasses
il	attrape	attraperait	attrapa	attrapât
nous	attrapions	attraperions	attrapâmes	attrapassions
vous	attrapiez	attraperiez	attrapâtes	attrapassiez
ils	attrapent	attraperaient	attrapèrent	attrapassent

One final verb form is helpful to know and that is the imperative. This is used in direct requests and demands and there's no need to use the pronoun here. Instead of "tu attrape," simplify it to "attrape."

	Imperative
(tu)	attrape
(nous)	attrapons
(vous)	attrapez