Conjugating the Irregular French Verb 'Conduire' ('to Drive')

Conduire, meaning "to drive, take, lead or conduct," is a highly irregular French -re verb that doesn't follow regular conjugation patterns. Within irregular French -re verbs, there are a few verbs that demonstrate patterns, including verbs conjugated like prendre, battre, mettre and rompre, and verbs ending in -craindre, -peindre and -oindre.

Conduire, to the contrary, is one of those highly irregular French verbs with conjugations so unusual and unwieldy that they don't fall into any pattern. They are so irregular you just have to memorize them to use them correctly. These very irregular -re verbs include: absoudre, boire, clore, conclure, conduire, confire, connaître, coudre, croire, dire, eacute;crire, faire, inscrire, lire, moudre, naître, plaire, rire, suivre, and vivre. 

The table below shows the irregular simple conjugations of conduire. Note that the table does not include compound conjugations, which consist of a form of the auxiliary verb avoir and the past participle. 

Simple Conjugations of the Irregular '-re' Verb 'Conduire'

	Present	Future	Imperfect	Present participle
je	conduis	conduirai	conduisais	conduisant
tu	conduis	conduiras	conduisais
il	conduit	conduira	conduisait
nous	conduisons	conduirons	conduisions
vous	conduisez	conduirez	conduisiez
ils	conduisent	conduiront	conduisaient
	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé simple	Imperfect subjunctive
je	conduise	conduirais	conduisis	conduisisse
tu	conduises	conduirais	conduisis	conduisisses
il	conduise	conduirait	conduisit	conduisît
nous	conduisions	conduirions	conduisîmes	conduisissions
vous	conduisiez	conduiriez	conduisîtes	conduisissiez
ils	conduisent	conduiraient	conduisirent	conduisissent

	Imperative
(tu)	conduis
(nous)	conduisons
(vous)	conduisez

'Conduire': Uses and Expressions

Conduire les enfants à l'école –> To take or drive the children to school

Conduire à –> to lead to

Conduire quelqu'un jusqu'à la porte –> to see someone to the door

Conduire à droite/gauche –> to drive on the left / right

Conduire bien/mal/vite –> to drive well, badly, fast

Conduire les travaux –> to supervise the work

Conduire un orchestre –> to conduct an orchestra

Ça conduit l'électricité. –> That conducts electricity.

Se conduire –> to be driven

Elle se conduit mal. –> She conducts herself / behaves badly

Conduire une delegation/ revolt –> to lead a delegation / revolt

Other Verbs Ending in '-uire'

There are several more highly irregular verbs ending in -uire; they are all conjugated like conduire. Some of these are:

• traduire –> translate 
• introduire –> introduce 
• induire –> to incite, induce 
• éconduire –> to get rid of, jilt, reject 
• construire –> to construct
• séduire –> to seduce 
• enduire –> to coat, cover, plaster 
• produire –> to produce 
• cuire –> to cook 
• détruire –> to destroy 
• réduire –> to reduce 
• instruire –> to instruct, teach, instruct, educate 
• reproduire –> to reproduce 
• reconduire –> to escort, renew, show to the door 
• reconstruire –> to reconstruct 
• s'autodétruire –> to self-destruct 
• réintroduire –> to reintroduce 
• déconstruire –> to deconstruct 
• recuire –> to cook longer, to soak 
• surproduire –> to overproduce 
• méconduire –> to misbehave 
• coproduire –> to coproduce 
• nuire –> to harm