Conjugating Apparaître (to Appear)

As you learn French, you quickly come to understand that the conjugating of verbs is a major part of the language. Its important to learn how to do this and verbs like  apparaà ®tre  are good practice for your studies. Meaning to appear,  apparaà ®tre  is an irregular verb so it can be a bit tricky. This lesson will show you how to conjugate it. Conjugating the French Verb  Apparaà ®tre There are times when conjugating French verbs is easy and times when its a little tougher.  Apparaà ®tre  falls into the latter category because it does not follow the patterns of regular verbs. Yet, there is a pattern here and it follows through with almost all other  French verbs ending  in  -aà ®tre.  This means that once you study  apparaà ®tre, you can move on to similar irregular verbs. When conjugating  apparaà ®tre, you will need to match the subject pronoun -- the I, you, we, etc. or in French,  j, tu, nous  -- with the tense needed for the sentence. This chart will help with that. For instance, to translate I appear, you will say japparais or for we will appear, you will use nous apparaà ®trons. Subject Present Future Imperfect j' apparais apparaà ®trai apparaissais tu apparais apparaà ®tras apparaissais il apparaà ®t apparaà ®tra apparaissait nous apparaissons apparaà ®trons apparaissions vous apparaissez apparaà ®trez apparaissiez ils apparaissent apparaà ®tront apparaissaient The Present Participle of  Apparaà ®tre   When you give  apparaà ®tre  an -ant  ending, you will be using the present participle. It can be used as a verb, but also an adjective, gerund, and noun when needed.  The  present participle  of  apparaà ®tre is  apparaissant.   The Past Tense of  Apparaà ®tre   You can use the imperfect to express having appeared in the past, but its more common (and easier) to use the  passà © composà ©. This allows you to use a single past participle for every subject, no matter if its I appeared or we appeared. The catch to this is that you have to conjugate and use the  auxiliary verb  for apparaà ®tre, which is  avoir.  The  past participle  of apparaà ®tre  is  apparu. To put these together, you will say jai  apparu for I appeared. More Conjugations of  Apparaà ®tre   Those are not the only conjugations associated with  apparaà ®tre. While you should be aware of them, the passà © simple and imperfect subjunctive are used in formal writing. The subjunctive and conditional forms of  apparaà ®tre  are a little more important. You will use the subjunctive when the verb mood implies uncertainty and the conditional when it may or may not be depending on conditions. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j' apparaisse apparaà ®trais apparus apparusse tu apparaisses apparaà ®trais apparus apparusses il apparaisse apparaà ®trait apparut apparà »t nous apparaissions apparaà ®trions apparà »mes apparussions vous apparaissiez apparaà ®triez apparà »tes apparussiez ils apparaissent apparaà ®traient apparurent apparussent The final conjugation for  apparaà ®tre  is the imperative. This verb mood allows you to drop the subject pronoun and use only the verb form. It applies to the  tu, nous,  and  vous  uses, so instead of nous apparaissons, you can just say apparaissons. Imperative (tu) apparais (nous) apparaissons (vous) apparaissez The Pattern to Conjugating -aà ®tre  Verbs With one exception, all  French verbs  that end in  -aà ®tre  are conjugated the same way as  apparaà ®tre.  Compare the conjugations above to those for  disparaà ®tre  (to disappear) and  paraà ®tre  (to seem) and you will see the similarities. These same rules apply to the following verbs: comparaà ®tre  - to appear in courtconnaà ®tre  - to know, be familiar withmà ©connaà ®tre  - to be unaware ofreconnaà ®tre  -  to recognizereparaà ®tre  - to reappeartransparaà ®tre  - to show through The exception to the pattern is  naà ®tre, which means to be born. You will have to memorize that one on its own.