How to Conjugate Décider, to Decide, in French

You may be able to guess that the French verb  dà ©cider  means to decide. French students will be delighted to know that conjugating it to mean decided or deciding is almost as easy as remembering the word itself. A quick lesson will show you exactly how its done. Conjugating the French Verb  Dà ©cider French verb conjugations can be a headache at times. Thats because we must change the infinitive verb ending for every subject pronoun as well as the present, future, or imperfect past tense. While there are more words that you need to memorize, each new one becomes a little easier. This is particularly true with a verb such as  dà ©cider. It is a regular -er verb  and it follows the most common verb conjugation pattern found in the French language. To conjugate it, we simply add a variety of endings to the verb stem of  dà ©cid-. For instance, I decide is je dà ©cide and we will decide is nous dà ©ciderons. Subject Present Future Imperfect je dcide dciderai dcidais tu dcides dcideras dcidais il dcide dcidera dcidait nous dcidons dciderons dcidions vous dcidez dciderez dcidiez ils dcident dcideront dcidaient The Present Participle The  present participle  of dà ©cider  is  dà ©cidant. This is as simple as adding -ant  to the verb stem. It can be used as an adjective, gerund, or noun,   as well as a verb. The Past Participle for Dà ©cider  and Passà © Composà © The  past participle  of dà ©cider  is  dà ©cidà ©. This is used to form the  passà © composà ©, a common way to say the past tense decided in French. In order to use it, you will also need the subject pronoun and the matching conjugate of  avoir  (an  auxiliary, or helping, verb). For example, I decided becomes jai dà ©cidà © and we decided is nous avons dà ©cidà ©. Note how  ai  and  avons  are conjugates of  avoir  and that the past participle does not change. More Simple  Conjugations Practice those forms of  dà ©cider  in context as they are used most often. As your French improves, consider learning the following forms as they can be useful as well. For instance, the subjunctive and the conditional forms are both verb moods and they imply some degree of uncertainty to the act of deciding. In literature and formal French writing, you will also find the passà © simple or the imperfect subjunctive in use. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je dcide dciderais dcidai dcidasse tu dcides dciderais dcidas dcidasses il dcide dciderait dcida dcidt nous dcidions dciderions dcidmes dcidassions vous dcidiez dcideriez dcidtes dcidassiez ils dcident dcideraient dcidrent dcidassent The imperative verb form is also quite useful, particularly if you want to use  dà ©cider  in quick statements that demand or request a decision. When using it, the subject pronoun is not required, so tu dà ©cide becomes dà ©cide. Imperative (tu) dcide (nous) dcidons (vous) dcidez