How to Conjugate "Porter" in French

In French, the verb porter means "to wear" or "to carry." When you want to use it in the present, past, or future tense to say things such as "I wore" or "he is carrying," you'll need to conjugate the verb. The good news is that porter is a regular -er verb, so it's relatively easy and this lesson will show you how it's done.

The Basic Conjugations of Porter

The first step in any verb conjugation is identifying the verb stem. For porter, that is port-. Using that, you'll add a variety of infinitive endings to form the proper conjugation. If you've studied similar -er words, such as acheter (to buy) and penser (to think), you can apply the same endings here.

For this lesson, we'll concentrate on the most basic conjugations you'll need. Using the chart, simply find the appropriate subject pronoun and tense for your sentence. For example, "I am wearing" is je porte while "we will carry" is nous porterons. Practicing these in short sentences will help you commit them to memory.

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	porte	porterai	portais
tu	portes	porteras	portais
il	porte	portera	portait
nous	portons	porterons	portions
vous	portez	porterez	portiez
ils	portent	porteront	portaient

The Present Participle of Porter

The present participle of porter is formed by adding -ant to the verb stem. This creates the word portant.

Porter in the Past Tense

The passé composé is another common way to use porter in the past tense. It requires a simple compound of the auxiliary verb avoir as well as the past participle porté. The only conjugation needed is avoir into the present tense; the participle indicates the action took place in the past.

The passé composé comes together quickly. For example, "I carried" is j'ai porté and "we carried" is nous avons porté.

More Simple Conjugations of Porter

Among the other simple conjugations, you might need are the subjunctive and the conditional. These two verb moods imply uncertainty, with the conditional saying that the action is dependent on something else. The passé simple and imperfect subjunctive are not used often, but they're good to know in case you encounter them.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	porte	porterais	portai	portasse
tu	portes	porterais	portas	portasses
il	porte	porterait	porta	portât
nous	portions	porterions	portâmes	portassions
vous	portiez	porteriez	portâtes	portassiez
ils	portent	porteraient	portèrent	portassent

When you wish to say short commands and requests such as, "Carry it!" you can use the imperative. when doing so, the subject pronoun is not required, so you can simplify it to porte.

	Imperative
(tu)	porte
(nous)	portons
(vous)	portez