How to Conjugate 'Bâtir' (to Build) in French

Silhouette of large building site with builders — Paper Boat Creative / Getty Images

Updated on February 28, 2020

The French verb bâtir means "to build." It's a regular -ir verb, so learning to conjugate it is relatively simple.

How to Conjugate the French Verb Bâtir

Determining the stem of a regular -ir verb is as simple as cutting the -ir off the infinitive (bât-). To conjugate, it, add the regular-ir-verb ending associated with the subject pronoun (je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles). These charts will help you learn how to conjugate bâtir.

	Present	Future	Imperfect	Present participle
je	bâtis	bâtirai	bâtissais	bâtissant
tu	bâtis	bâtiras	bâtissais
il	bâtit	bâtira	bâtissait
nous	bâtissons	bâtirons	bâtissions
vous	bâtissez	bâtirez	bâtissiez
ils	bâtissent	bâtiront	bâtissaient
	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé simple	Imperfect subjunctive
je	bâtisse	bâtirais	bâtis	bâtisse
tu	bâtisses	bâtirais	bâtis	bâtisses
il	bâtisse	bâtirait	bâtit	bâtît
nous	bâtissions	bâtirions	bâtîmes	bâtissions
vous	bâtissiez	bâtiriez	bâtîtes	bâtissiez
ils	bâtissent	bâtiraient	bâtirent	bâtissent
	Imperative
(tu)	bâtis
(nous)	bâtissons
(vous)	bâtissez

How to Use Bâtir in the Past Tense

To say you built something, you'd likely use the passé composé. Bâtir uses the auxiliary verb avoir and the past participle is bâti.

For example:

Elles ont bâti une maison du cartes.
They built a house of cards.

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Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate 'Bâtir' (to Build) in French." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/batir-to-build-1369872. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). How to Conjugate 'Bâtir' (to Build) in French. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/batir-to-build-1369872 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate 'Bâtir' (to Build) in French." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/batir-to-build-1369872 (accessed March 8, 2023).