How to Conjugate "Dessiner" (to Draw)

How would you say "to draw" in French? If you answered with the verb dessiner, then you would be correct. When you want to change this to the past tense "drew" or the present tense "drawing," then the verb needs to be conjugated. The good news is that this one is relatively straightforward.

Conjugations of the French Verb Dessiner

Dessiner is a regular -ER verb and it follows the most common verb conjugation pattern in the French language. You can use the same infinitive endings you learn in this lesson and apply them to countless other words, including demander (to ask) and diner (to have dinner).

Before any conjugation, we must identify the verb stem and for dessiner, that is dessin-. To this, we can add a variety of endings according to the subject pronoun to help our sentences make sense. As an example, adding a simple -e creates the present tense je form so "I am drawing" becomes "je dessine." Similarly, "we will draw" becomes "nous desinerons."

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	dessine	dessinerai	dessinais
tu	dessines	dessineras	dessinais
il	dessine	dessinera	dessinait
nous	dessinons	dessinerons	dessinions
vous	dessinez	dessinerez	dessiniez
ils	dessinent	dessineront	dessinaient

The Present Participle of Dessiner

A quick change to an -ant ending and dessiner is transformed into the present participle dessinant. This is a verb, of course, though you might also find it useful as an adjective, gerund, or noun at times.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

For the past tense "drew," the options are the imperfect form or the passé composé. To form the latter, begin by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir to the subject pronoun, then add the past participle dessiné.

The passé composé comes together quickly: "I drew" is "j'ai dessiné" and "we drew" is "nous avons dessiné."

More Simple Dessiner Conjugations to Learn

As your French improves, you will find uses for other simple forms of dessiner as well. For instance, when the action is uncertain, the subjunctive verb mood is used. In similar fashion, if the drawing requires that something else also happens, you can turn to the conditional verb form.

The passé simple is primarily found in literature, as is the imperfect subjunctive. While you may not use these personally, familiarizing yourself with them will aid your reading comprehension.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	dessine	dessinerais	dessinai	dessinasse
tu	dessines	dessinerais	dessinas	dessinasses
il	dessine	dessinerait	dessina	dessinât
nous	dessinions	dessinerions	dessinâmes	dessinassions
vous	dessiniez	dessineriez	dessinâtes	dessinassiez
ils	dessinent	dessineraient	dessinèrent	dessinassent

To use dessiner in short, direct statements, the imperative form is used. In this conjugation, keep things short and sweet and forget about including the subject pronoun: use "dessine" rather than "tu dessine."

	Imperative
(tu)	dessine
(nous)	dessinons
(vous)	dessinez