How to Conjugate the French Verb 'Vaincre' ('to Defeat')

Learn how to say, 'We shall overcome' and other uses of 'vaincre.'

Updated on February 21, 2020

The irregular French verb vaincre means "to beat, defeat, overcome, conquer and overcome." It has an irregular -re conjugation, but it shares the same conjugation with convaincre ("to convince" or "to persuade") and other words with vaincre as their root. Learn how to conjugate vaincre and you'll easily be able to apply that to other verbs with vaincre as their root.

Examples

Here are examples of the everyday use of vaincre:

Nous vaincrons. > We shall overcome.

Les joueurs partaient vaincus d'avance. > The players felt defeated before they began.

Elle a été vaincue par le sommeil/la fatigue. > She was overcome with sleep/exhaustion.

Conjugation of 'Vaincre'

	Present	Future	Imperfect	Present participle
je	vaincs	vaincrai	vainquais	vainquant
tu	vaincs	vaincras	vainquais
il	vainc	vaincra	vainquait	Passé composé
nous	vainquons	vaincrons	vainquions	Auxiliary verb avoir
vous	vainquez	vaincrez	vainquiez	Past participle vaincu
ils	vainquent	vaincront	vainquaient
	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé simple	Imperfect subjunctive
je	vainque	vaincrais	vainquis	vainquisse
tu	vainques	vaincrais	vainquis	vainquisses
il	vainque	vaincrait	vainquit	vainquît
nous	vainquions	vaincrions	vainquîmes	vainquissions
vous	vainquiez	vaincriez	vainquîtes	vainquissiez
ils	vainquent	vaincraient	vainquirent	vainquissent

Verb conjugation pattern:
Vaincre is an irregular verb and is conjugated
like convaincre.

	Imperative
(tu)	vaincs
(nous)	vainquons
(vous)	vainquez

Format

mla apa chicago

Your Citation

Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate the French Verb 'Vaincre' ('to Defeat')." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/vaincre-to-defeat-or-conquer-1370997. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). How to Conjugate the French Verb 'Vaincre' ('to Defeat'). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/vaincre-to-defeat-or-conquer-1370997 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate the French Verb 'Vaincre' ('to Defeat')." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/vaincre-to-defeat-or-conquer-1370997 (accessed June 10, 2023).