Languages › French How to Conjugate the French Verb 'Battre' (to Beat) Simple Conjugations for the French Verb 'Battre' Share Flipboard Email Print Hero Images / Getty Images French Grammar Pronunciation & Conversation Vocabulary Resources For Teachers By ThoughtCo Updated January 26, 2019 The French word battre means to beat. (The reflexive se battre means to fight, as does the verb combattre.) It is an irregular -re verb, meaning you'll have to memorize the conjugations, rather than rely knowing on the regular -re conjugation pattern. How to Conjugate the French Verb Battre You can start as you would when conjugating a regular -re verb and determine the stem by dropping the -re (batt-). Here's where things deviate from a regular verb: In the present tense, the singular forms also drop the second t. These charts show you how to conjugate this irregular verb. (Other verbs that include battre, like abattre, combattre and débattre, also follow this irregular pattern.) Present Future Imperfect Present Participle je bats battrai battais battant tu bats battras battais il bat battra battait nous battons battrons battions vous battez battrez battiez ils battent battront battaient Subjunctive Conditional Passé simple Imperfect subjunctive je batte battrais battis battisse tu battes battrais battis battisses il batte battrait battit battît nous battions battrions battîmes battissons vous battiez battriez battîtes battissiez ils battent battraient battirent battissent Imperative(tu)bats(nous)battons(vous)battez How to Use Battre in the Past Tense Though this is a lesson about simple conjugation, it's important to touch on the compound tense passé composé, as it is the most common way to put something in the past tense in French. For battre, the auxiliary verb is avoir and the past participle is battu. For example: Il a battu les oeufs avec une fourchette.He beat the eggs with a fork.