How to Conjugate "Conquérir" (to Conquer)

The French verb for "to conquer" is conquérir. It's often misspelled "conquir," so don't forget the middle syllable. In order to say "conquered" or "conquering," the verb needs to be conjugated and this lesson will show you how it's done.

Conjugating the French Verb Conquérir

Verb conjugations can be frustrating for many French students and, unfortunately, conquérir is one of the more challenging verbs. That is because it's an irregular verb, meaning it does not follow a common conjugation pattern.

However, there are a few verbs that end in -uérir and each is conjugated the same way. This includes acquérir (to acquire), s'enquérir (to inquire), and quérir (to go in quest of). If you study these as a group, each will be a little easier.

The key is to find the verb stem. For conquérir, this is conqu- and you will add the appropriate ending to match the subject pronoun as well as the tense.

As an example, for the subject pronoun je in the present tense, the infinitive ending -iers is always added. This forms "je conquiers," meaning "I conquer." Likewise, -errons is added in the nous future tense to create "we will conquer" or "nous conquerrons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	conquiers	conquerrai	conquérais
tu	conquiers	conquerras	conquérais
il	conquiert	conquerra	conquérait
nous	conquérons	conquerrons	conquérions
vous	conquérez	conquerrez	conquériez
ils	conquièrent	conquerront	conquéraient

The Present Participle of Conquérir

Add -ant to the stem of conquérir to form the present participle conquérant. It's used as a verb, but can also become an adjective, gerund, or noun in certain circumstances.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The passé composé is a common form of the past tense in French. To form this, begin by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir for the subject, then add the past participle conquis.

For example, "I conquered" is "j'ai conquis" and "we conquered" is "nous avons conquis."

More Simple Conquérir Conjugations

To begin with, concentrate on the past, present, and future tenses of conquérir. As you become more fluent, you may also need or see any of the following verb forms.

The subjunctive and conditional are used when there's some question or uncertainty to the verb. The passé simple and imperfect subjunctive are primarily found in formal writing.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	conquière	conquerrais	conquis	conquisse
tu	conquières	conquerrais	conquis	conquisses
il	conquière	conquerrait	conquit	conquît
nous	conquérions	conquerrions	conquîmes	conquissions
vous	conquériez	conquerriez	conquîtes	conquissiez
ils	conquièrent	conquerraient	conquirent	conquissent

To express conquérir in short, assertive statements, the imperative form is used. For this conjugation, skip the subject pronoun and use the verb alone: "conquiers" instead of "tu conqiers."

	Imperative
(tu)	conquiers
(nous)	conquérons
(vous)	conquérez