Learn How to Conjugate "Nager" (to Swim) in French (2024)

Nageris the French verb that means "to swim." When you want to change it to the present, past, or future tense, you will need to know how to conjugate it and a quick lesson will show you how that's done.

The Basic Conjugations ofNager

There are many French verb conjugations, though we'll concentrate on the most basic forms for this lesson. These include the ways that you can say "I am swimming," "we swam," and "they will swim" in French.

Nageris aspelling change verband it follows the same pattern as all other verbs that end in -ger. The change to the spelling is essential in order to retain the softgsound in the verb's stem (or radical).

For example, if you didn't include theein the imperfect past tensejeandtuform, then thegwould sound like it does in the word "gold" because it's followed by ana. To fix that problem and keep thegsounding like it does in "gel," theeis used. It's a minor issue, but a very important one to remember.

As you study thenagerconjugations, you'll match the subject pronoun with the tense of your sentence. The chart will guide you as to which endings to add and when that spelling change occurs. When you want to say "I am swimming," it isje nage. Likewise, "we will swim" isnous nagerons.

Read MoreHow to Conjugate "Baigner" (to Bathe)By ThoughtCo Team

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	nage	nagerai	nageais
tu	nages	nageras	nageais
il	nage	nagera	nageait
nous	nageons	nagerons	nagions
vous	nagez	nagerez	nagiez
ils	nagent	nageront	nageaient

The Present Participle of Nager

The spelling change appears again in thepresent participleofnager. That's because we add -antto formnageant.

Nagerin the Compound Past Tense

Beyond the imperfect, another way to express the past tense "swam" is with thepassé composé. This is the most common compound and one you'll use often.

In order to construct this, you will use the present tense conjugation of theauxiliary verbavoirto match your subject, then attach thepast participlenagé. For example, "I swam" isj'ai nagéand "we swam" isnous avons nagé.

More Simple Conjugations of Nager

You will use the conjugations ofnagerabove most often, but there may be times when you will also need to know a few more basic forms. For instance, when the action of swimming may or may not happen, you'll turn tothe subjunctive. When it's dependent on something else, you'll usethe conditional.

Though they're used with less frequency, knowing or at least being able to recognizethe passé simpleandimperfect subjunctivewill be handy as well.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	nage	nagerais	nageai	nageasse
tu	nages	nagerais	nageas	nageasses
il	nage	nagerait	nagea	nageât
nous	nagions	nagerions	nageâmes	nageassions
vous	nagiez	nageriez	nageâtes	nageassiez
ils	nagent	nageraient	nagèrent	nageassent

Theimperativeformofnageris used for very short sentences such as, "Swim!" When using it, you don't have to include the subject pronoun, so you can get away with simplifying it to "Nagez !"

	Imperative
(tu)	nage
(vous)	nagez
(nous)	nageons

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Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate the French Verb "Nager" (to Swim)." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/nager-to-swim-1370551.Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). How to Conjugate the French Verb "Nager" (to Swim). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/nager-to-swim-1370551Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Conjugate the French Verb "Nager" (to Swim)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/nager-to-swim-1370551 (accessed March 31, 2024).