How to Conjugate the Verb "Bavarder" (to Chat)

The French verb bavarder means "to chat." It's slightly less formal than parler (to talk) and a very useful word to add to your vocabulary.

When you want to use bavarder in the past tense to say "chatted" or in the present tense for "chatting," you will need to conjugate the verb. Follow this French lesson and you'll be chatting in French with ease.

Conjugating the French Verb Bavarder

Bavarder is a regular -ER verb and it follows the standard verb conjugation patterns of similar words like parler (to talk) and déclarer (to declare). This means that once you memorize the endings for one verb, the rest will be just a little bit easier.

To conjugate French verbs, we change the ending to match the subject pronoun as well as the tense. This is in contrast to English where the -ed and -ing endings are used whether we're talking about I, you, or we. It makes memorizing the verbs a challenge, but it gets easier with practice and repetition.

Using the chart, you can quickly find the appropriate conjugation of bavarder. To say "I'm chatting," you will use "je bavarde" and "we will chat" is "nous bavarderons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	bavarde	bavarderai	bavardais
tu	bavardes	bavarderas	bavardais
il	bavarde	bavardera	bavardait
nous	bavardons	bavarderons	bavardions
vous	bavardez	bavarderez	bavardiez
ils	bavardent	bavarderont	bavardaient

The Present Participle of Bavarder

When you change the -er ending of bavarder to -ant, you will create the present participle bavardant. This is used as a verb, though it can be helpful as an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

Another Bavarder Past Tense

Beyond the imperfect, you can also use the passé composé to express bavarder in the past tense. To do so, you need an auxiliary verb as well as the past participle.

For barvarder, avoir is the auxiliary verb and it needs to be conjugated. Bavardé is the past participle and it does not change as the subject does. For instance, "I chatted" is "j'ai bavardé" while "we chatted" is "nous avons bavardé."

More Simple Conjugations of Bavarder

The following conjugations are not as common and you may or may not use them. This is particularly true of the passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive as both are used most often in formal writing.

The other two verb forms are more common and you might find them useful in French conversations. They both imply a level of question to the action of chatting, with the subjunctive being subjective and the conditional dependent on circumstances.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	bavarde	bavarderais	bavardai	bavardasse
tu	bavardes	bavarderais	bavardas	bavardasses
il	bavarde	bavarderait	bavarda	bavardât
nous	bavardions	bavarderions	bavardâmes	bavardassions
vous	bavardiez	bavarderiez	bavardâtes	bavardassiez
ils	bavardent	bavarderaient	bavardèrent	bavardassent

The imperative may be helpful as well. This form is used for assertive and short statements such as commands and requests. When using the imperative, skip the subject pronoun and simply use the verb: "bavarde" rather than "tu bavarde."

	Imperative
(tu)	bavarde
(nous)	bavardons
(vous)	bavardez