How to Conjugate "Cuisiner" (to Cook)

When you want to say "to cook" in French you have two options. One is cuire and the other is cuisiner, which is the subject of this verb conjugation lesson. Since we borrowed the word "cuisine" in English to speak about styles of food, this one should be easy to remember.

Conjugating the French Verb Cuisiner

Cuisiner is a regular -ER verb and that makes conjugating it to the past, present, or future tense just a little easier. That's because this is the most common verb conjugation pattern found in French. Once you learn the appropriate verb endings for cuisiner, you can apply them to countless other verbs.

To conjugate cuisiner, begin by identifying the verb stem: cuisin-. To this, various endings are added to match the tense to the appropriate subject pronoun for your sentence. For example, "I cook" is "je cuisine" and "we will cook" is "nous cuisinerons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	cuisine	cuisinerai	cuisinais
tu	cuisines	cuisineras	cuisinais
il	cuisine	cuisinera	cuisinait
nous	cuisinons	cuisinerons	cuisinions
vous	cuisinez	cuisinerez	cuisiniez
ils	cuisinent	cuisineront	cuisinaient

The Present Participle of Cuisiner

The present participle of cuisiner is cuisinant. This is formed by simply adding -ant to the verb stem and it can also act as an adjective, gerund, or noun. 

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

A common way to express the past tense "cooked" in French is with the passé composé. To construct it, you must first conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject pronoun. The past participle cuisiné is then added.

It all comes together quickly: "I cooked" is "j'ai cuisiné" and "we cooked" is "nous avons cuisiné." Note how ai and avons are conjugates of avoir and that the past participle does not change.

More Simple Cuisiner Conjugations

Among the other simple conjugations of cuisiner that you might need are the following. The verb moods of the subjunctive and the conditional imply that the action of cooking may not be guaranteed. In literature, you might also find the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	cuisine	cuisinerais	cuisinai	cuisinasse
tu	cuisines	cuisinerais	cuisinas	cuisinasses
il	cuisine	cuisinerait	cuisina	cuisinât
nous	cuisinions	cuisinerions	cuisinâmes	cuisinassions
vous	cuisiniez	cuisineriez	cuisinâtes	cuisinassiez
ils	cuisinent	cuisineraient	cuisinèrent	cuisinassent

To express cuisiner in exclamations, requests, or demands, use the imperative form. When doing so, the subject pronoun is not required: use "cuisine" rather than "tu cuisine."

	Imperative
(tu)	cuisine
(nous)	cuisinons
(vous)	cuisinez