How to Conjugate "Louer" (to Rent)

The French verb louer means "to rent." When you need to say "rented," "renting," or "will rent" a conjugation is required. French students will be delighted to know that this one's pretty easy because it follows the most common verb conjugation pattern found in the language.

Conjugations of the French Verb Louer

Louer is a regular -er verb and the endings required in the conjugations follow the pattern of similar words. If you know how to conjugate inviter (to invite), fumer (to smoke), or any other verbs that end in -er, then this will be an easy lesson.

The trick to French verb conjugations is that the ending changes with the subject pronoun as well as the past, future, or present tense. First, you must identify the verb stem and in this case, that is lou-. 

With that information, follow the table to discover the appropriate endings for each form of louer. For example, "I am renting" is "je loue" and "we will rent" is "nous louerons." Practicing these in context using simple sentences will make them easier to memorize.

Subject	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	loue	louerai	louais
tu	loues	loueras	louais
il	loue	louera	louait
nous	louons	louerons	louions
vous	louez	louerez	louiez
ils	louent	loueront	louaient

The Present Participle of Louer

The present participle of louer is louant. This was formed by simply adding -ant to the verb stem. Beyond its use as a verb, it can also become an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed.

The Passé Composé and Past Participle

The passé composé is a common way to express the past tense in French. It's very easy and requires the use of the past participle loué. In order to complete the construction, conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to fit the subject pronoun.

For instance, "I rented" becomes "j'ai loué" while "we rented" is "nous avons loué." Notice how ai and avons are conjugates of avoir, yet the past participle does not change.

More Simple Louer Conjugations to Learn

Those are the most important conjugations of louer that you should know. Once you learn those, consider studying these other simple forms.

The subjunctive verb mood is used when the action of renting is uncertain. Similarly, the conditional verb mood implies that the renting will only happen if something else does. In formal French writing, you will likely come across the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive as these are literary verb forms.

Subject	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	loue	louerais	louai	louasse
tu	loues	louerais	louas	louasses
il	loue	louerait	loua	louât
nous	louions	louerions	louâmes	louassions
vous	louiez	loueriez	louâtes	louassiez
ils	louent	loueraient	louèrent	louassent

The imperative verb form is used in short demands and exclamations. When using it, skip the subject pronoun: use "loue" instead of "tu loue."

	Imperative
(tu)	loue
(nous)	louons
(vous)	louez