"Dinner" is "Dîner": Easy to Remember and Simple to Conjugate

Among the French verbs related to food, you will use dîner often because it means "to have dinner." It's an easy word to remember, though you do need to watch the spelling because the letter 'I' uses an accented î. Beyond that, you will also want to conjugate it in order to say "had dinner" or "am having dinner."

Conjugating the French Verb Dîner

Dîner is a regular -ER verb, and it follows a very common verb conjugation pattern. You will find these same endings in related words like déjeuner (to have lunch), cuisiner (to cook), and countless other verbs.

In order to conjugate dîner, begin with the verb stem of dîn-. To this, we add a new infinitive ending for each tense as well as each subject pronoun. For instance, "I am having dinner" is "je dîne," and "we will have dinner" is "nous dînerons."

It's true that there are many words to memorize here, and practicing these in context will help tremendously. Luckily, you can use it every evening when you eat dinner.

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	dîne	dînerai	dînais
tu	dînes	dîneras	dînais
il	dîne	dînera	dînait
nous	dînons	dînerons	dînions
vous	dînez	dînerez	dîniez
ils	dînent	dîneront	dînaient

Present Participle

When we want to use the present participle, the ending -ant is added to the verb stem. This leaves us with dînant, which can be an adjective, gerund, or noun as well as a verb.

Past Participle and Passé Composé

The imperfect and the passé composé each express the past tense "had dinner" in French. To form the latter, you will begin by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject pronoun. After that, attach the past participle dîné. For example, "I had dinner" is "j'ai dîné" and "we had dinner" is "nous avons dîné."

Simpler Conjugations to Learn

When "having dinner" is not guaranteed, the subjunctive verb mood can be used. And when that dinner relies on something else happening, use the conditional form.

When reading French, you will likely encounter the passé simple or the imperfect subjunctive. While not essential to your studies, being able to recognize these is a good idea.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	dîne	dînerais	dînai	dînasse
tu	dînes	dînerais	dînas	dînasses
il	dîne	dînerait	dîna	dînât
nous	dînions	dînerions	dînâmes	dînassions
vous	dîniez	dîneriez	dînâtes	dînassiez
ils	dînent	dîneraient	dînèrent	dînassent

The imperative verb form of dîner is relatively simple. The point of these statements is to make it quick, so we drop the subject pronoun. Rather than saying "tu dîne," simplify it to "dîne."

	Imperative
(tu)	dîne
(nous)	dînons
(vous)	dînez