How to Conjugate "Descendre" (To Go Down, Descend)

The French verb descendre means "to go down" or "to descend." Its resemblance to the English makes it an easy word to remember, now you just need to know how to conjugate it. A quick lesson will show you how to transform this verb into the simplest and most common conjugations.

Conjugating the French Verb Descendre

Descendre is a regular -RE verb and it follows a relatively common pattern. The same infinitive endings you see here can be applied to words like perdre (to lose) and vendre (to sell). That makes learning each new word just a little easier than the last.

In the simplest conjugations, you will add a new ending for each subject pronoun according to the present, future, or imperfect past tense. This is as simple as an -s for the je present tense "je descends" to mean "I go down" or -rons to the nous future tense "nous descendrons" to mean "we will go down." 

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	descends	descendrai	descendais
tu	descends	descendras	descendais
il	descend	descendra	descendait
nous	descendons	descendrons	descendions
vous	descendez	descendrez	descendiez
ils	descendent	descendront	descendaient

The Present Participle of Descendre

When you add -ant to the verb stem descend-, the present participle descendant is formed. It is a verb, of course, yet you might also find it useful as an adjective, gerund, or noun at times.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

Beyond the imperfect, you can also use the passé composé to express the past tense "went down" or "descended." To do so, attach the past participle descendu, to the appropriate conjugate of the auxiliary verb être.

It comes together quite easily: "I descended" is "je suis descendu" and "we went down" is "nous sommes descendu"

More Simple Descendre Conjugations to Know

There are more common conjugations of descendre that you might find useful as well. For example, when the action of descending is subjective or uncertain, employ the subjunctive verb mood. In a similar fashion, if the action depends on something else happening, the conditional verb mood is used.

Primarily found in literature and other formal French writing, it's a good idea to at least familiarize yourself with the passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive forms.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	descende	descendrais	descendis	descendisse
tu	descendes	descendrais	descendis	descendisses
il	descende	descendrait	descendit	descendît
nous	descendions	descendrions	descendîmes	descendissions
vous	descendiez	descendriez	descendîtes	descendissiez
ils	descendent	descendraient	descendirent	descendissent

Descendre can also be used in the imperative form for commands and requests. When using this, keep the sentence short and drop the subject pronoun: use "descends" rather than "tu descends."

	Imperative
(tu)	descends
(nous)	descendons
(vous)	descendez