How to Conjugate "Blanchir" (to Bleach)

The French verb blanchir means to "to bleach" or "to whiten." This should be an easy one to remember if you recall that blanc is French for the color "white." 

Conjugating the French Verb Blanchir

French verbs are conjugated in order to change them to fit a particular tense as well as the subject. For blanchir, you will conjugate it when you need to say "bleached" or "bleaching." This is done in a similar manner to English in that the ending of the verb is changed.

Blanchir is a regular -IR verb and it follows the verb conjugation pattern of similar words. If you learn how to conjugate blanchir, you can apply these same endings to bénir (to bless), définir (to define), and many other verbs.

When you want to say "I bleach," use the chart to match the subject pronoun (I or je) with the present tense. This gives you the French "je blanchis." Likewise, "we will whiten" is "nous blanchirons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	blanchis	blanchirai	blanchissais
tu	blanchis	blanchiras	blanchissais
il	blanchit	blanchira	blanchissait
nous	blanchissons	blanchirons	blanchissions
vous	blanchissez	blanchirez	blanchissiez
ils	blanchissent	blanchiront	blanchissaient

Blanchir's Present Participle

The present participle of blanchir is blanchissant. This acts not only as a verb, but can also be used in the form of an adjective, gerund, or noun when necessary.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The passé composé is a form of the past tense that is in frequent use. To create this, you need to conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir and add the past participle blanchi.

For example, to say "I bleached," use "j'ai blanchi." Similarly, "we bleached" is "nous avons blanchi."

More Simple Conjugations of Blanchir

For the most part, you can concentrate on the present, past, and future tenses of blanchir as they are the most important. Yet, as you learn more French and use it with greater frequency, you might find these other forms useful.

The subjunctive and conditional are used when the verb is subjective, uncertain, or dependent upon circumstances. The passé composé and imperfect subjunctive tend to be reserved for formal writing.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	blanchisse	blanchirais	blanchis	blanchisse
tu	blanchisses	blanchirais	blanchis	blanchisses
il	blanchisse	blanchirait	blanchit	blanchît
nous	blanchissions	blanchirions	blanchîmes	blanchissions
vous	blanchissiez	blanchiriez	blanchîtes	blanchissiez
ils	blanchissent	blanchiraient	blanchirent	blanchissent

The imperative form of blanchir is used in short sentences, often as commands or requests. When using it, there's no need to use the subject pronoun. Rather than use "tu blanchis, you can simplify it to "blanchis."

	Imperative
(tu)	blanchis
(nous)	blanchissons
(vous)	blanchissez