Dictionary French-English English-French Conjugations donner (-er) finir (-ir) attendre (-re) avoir être aller faire voir se laver Verbs Introduction Present tense Imperfect tense Future tense Perfect tense Conditional Subjunctive Past historic Grammar French verbs French nouns French adjectives French possessives French adverbs French prepositions French pronouns Phrases French greetings People/family Jobs/professions Colours Hobbies/pastimes House and home Holidays Food Transport

bâtir: Conjugation

The bâtir conjugation tables below show how to form the French verb bâtir according to tense and person. To listen to the pronunciation of a given tense of bâtir, click on the loudspeaker icon at the bottom of the table. See the notes on the conjugation of bâtir at the end of this page.

Present	Perfect
je bâtis tu bâtis il/elle bâtit nous bâtissons vous bâtissez ils/elles bâtissent Pronounce these verb forms	j' ai bâti tu as bâti il/elle a bâti nous avons bâti vous avez bâti ils/elles ont bâti Pronounce these verb forms
Imperfect	Pluperfect
je bâtissais tu bâtissais il/elle bâtissait nous bâtissions vous bâtissiez ils/elles bâtissaient Pronounce these verb forms	j' avais bâti tu avais bâti il/elle avait bâti nous avions bâti vous aviez bâti ils/elles avaient bâti Pronounce these verb forms
Future	Future-perfect
je bâtirai tu bâtiras il/elle bâtira nous bâtirons vous bâtirez ils/elles bâtiront Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurai bâti tu auras bâti il/elle aura bâti nous aurons bâti vous aurez bâti ils/elles auront bâti Pronounce these verb forms
Conditional	Conditional perfect
je bâtirais tu bâtirais il/elle bâtirait nous bâtirions vous bâtiriez ils/elles bâtiraient Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurais bâti tu aurais bâti il/elle aurait bâti nous aurions bâti vous auriez bâti ils/elles auraient bâti Pronounce these verb forms
Present subjunctive	Perfect subjunctive
je bâtisse tu bâtisses il/elle bâtisse nous bâtissions vous bâtissiez ils/elles bâtissent Pronounce these verb forms	j' aie bâti tu aies bâti il/elle ait bâti nous ayons bâti vous ayez bâti ils/elles aient bâti Pronounce these verb forms
Past historic	Past anterior
je bâtis tu bâtis il/elle bâtit nous bâtîmes vous bâtîtes ils/elles bâtirent Pronounce these verb forms	j' eus bâti tu eus bâti il/elle eut bâti nous eûmes bâti vous eûtes bâti ils/elles eurent bâti Pronounce these verb forms

This verb falls into the pattern commonly termed regular -ir verb. It is characterised by the consonant -ss- which appears before any ending beginning with a vowel (in the spelling) but not in the infinitive or past participle.

This is the pattern generally followed by verbs based on colours and some other common adjectives (such as (to turn red, blush), jaunir (to turn yellow), grandir (to grow), adoucir (to soften) etc. Many English verbs ending in -ish also have French counterparts ending in -ir and following this pattern (cf finir, polir, vernir (to varnish), abolir, ternir...

Around 300 verbs are reported to follow this pattern (Beescherelle (2006), la conjugaison pour tous). The category is marginally productive:

• On analogy with other verbs of the category, very occasional -ir neologisms are formed (cf amarsir);
• There is a very slight tendancy for irregular -ir verbs to "slip into" the regular -ir pattern. In educated usage, this happens in some senses for saillir and ressortir in some senses, and sometimes for the verb vêtir (Bescherelle, op cit, p. 27). Other non-standard forms occasionally found include vous bouillissez (instead of vous bouillez: see bouillir).