How to Conjugate the French Verb "Promener" (to Walk)

In French, the verb promener means "to walk," which is easier to remember if you associate it with the English word "promenade." French students will also want to be able to conjugate the verb because you'll use it often. A brief lesson will introduce you to the most helpful forms of promener.

The Basic Conjugations of Promener

Verb conjugations are required to transform it from "to walk" to "walking," "walked," or "will walk." French is a little trickier though because the verb changes not only from the present, past, and future tenses but with the subject pronoun as well.

To complicate matters, promener is a stem-changing verb, but don't let that scare you off. As you study these basic conjugations you'll notice that there are times when the e in the verb's stem promen- changes to an è. This occurs in some of the present and future tenses, so do pay attention to the spelling.

To conjugate promener, simply match the subject pronoun with the proper tense of your sentence. For example, "I am walking" is je promène and "we will walk" is nous promènerons. If you practice these in simple sentences, you'll find that memorizing them is a little easier.

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	promène	promènerai	promenais
tu	promènes	promèneras	promenais
il	promène	promènera	promenait
nous	promenons	promènerons	promenions
vous	promenez	promènerez	promeniez
ils	promènent	promèneront	promenaient

The Present Participle of Promener

As with most French verbs, the present participle of promener is formed by adding -ant to the verb stem. This results in promenant.

Promener in the Compound Past Tense

Though there are other compound forms of promener, we'll concentrate on the passé composé for this lesson. It's a common form of the past tense and requires you to use the auxiliary verb avoir and the past participle promené.

To construct it, begin with the present tense conjugate of avoir that matches the subject, then attach the past participle. For example, "I walked" is j'ai promené and "we walked" is nous avons promené.

More Simple Conjugations of Promener

Among the other simple conjugations of promener that you may find useful are the subjunctive and the conditional. The subjunctive is used when someone may walk, or they might not. The conditional is used when the walking will only occur if something else does. There may be the rare occasions when you'll also need the passé simple or imperfect subjunctive as well.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	promène	promènerais	promenai	promenasse
tu	promènes	promènerais	promenas	promenasses
il	promène	promènerait	promena	promenât
nous	promenions	promènerions	promenâmes	promenassions
vous	promeniez	promèneriez	promenâtes	promenassiez
ils	promènent	promèneraient	promenèrent	promenassent

The imperative form is used for short commands such as, "Walk!" When using it, the subject pronoun is not required, so you can simply say, "Promène !"

	Imperative
(tu)	promène
(nous)	promenons
(vous)	promenez