How to Conjugate "Lancer" (to Throw) in French

Similar to the English word "lance," the French verb lancer means "to throw." While that's easy enough to remember, you'll need to conjugate it to mean "throwing" or "threw." A quick lesson will demonstrate how to do that.

If you want a second option of "to throw," study the verb jeter.

Conjugating the French Verb Lancer

Lancer is a spelling change verb, which makes things a little more difficult than normal. The change comes when the letter 'C' precedes either an 'A' or an 'O' in the infinitive endings. In these forms, the 'C' becomes a cedilla ç and this reminds us to retain the soft 'C' sound throughout the conjugations.

If you keep an eye on that, then conjugating lancer is relatively simple. Just match the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense for the context. For example, "I am throwing" is "je lance" and "we will throw" is "nous lancerons." Practicing these in context will help you memorize them.

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	lance	lancerai	lançais
tu	lances	lanceras	lançais
il	lance	lancera	lançait
nous	lançons	lancerons	lancions
vous	lancez	lancerez	lanciez
ils	lancent	lanceront	lançaient

The Present Participle of Lancer

Used as either a verb, adjective, noun, or gerund, the present participle is quite useful. For lancer, the ç makes an appearance and we simply add -ant to the verb stem to form lançant.

The Past Participle and Passé Composé

The past tense of "threw" can be expressed with the imperfect or the passé composé. To form the latter, begin with a conjugate of the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject pronoun, then attach the past participle lancé. For example, "I threw" is "j'ai lancé" and "we threw" is "nous avons lancé."

More Simple Lancer Conjugations to Learn

At first, the focus of your studies should be the forms of lancer we've discussed. Yet, you might also find some other forms helpful.

For instance, the subjunctive and the conditional are both verb "moods." Each implies that the act of throwing is not guaranteed. Likewise, if you read a lot of French, knowing the literary tenses of the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive will be useful.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	lance	lancerais	lançai	lançasse
tu	lances	lancerais	lanças	lançasses
il	lance	lancerait	lança	lançât
nous	lancions	lancerions	lançâmes	lançassions
vous	lanciez	lanceriez	lançâtes	lançassiez
ils	lancent	lanceraient	lancèrent	lançassent

When using lancer in assertive and short commands or requests, turn to the imperative form. For this, the subject pronoun is not required, so "lance" is used instead of "tu lance."

	Imperative
(tu)	lance
(nous)	lançons
(vous)	lancez