How to Conjugate Jouer (To Play) in French

The French verb  jouer  means to play. This is a very common regular  -er  verb and it is used so much that youll want to be able to use it properly. That means that you need to know how to conjugate it and understand how to use it to mean different types of play. A quick French lesson will show you how all that is done. Conjugating the French Verb  Jouer Just as in English, French verbs need to be conjugated to match the tense of the sentence. You will use a different form of jouer when you want to say playing in the present tense, played in the past tense, and will play in the future tense.   The good news for French students is that  joeur is a  regular -er verb. It follows the most commonly found conjugation pattern in the French language, which means that it is easier to memorize. This is particularly true if youve studied similar regular verbs like  sauter  (to jump) or  poser  (to put), or any of the other words that fall into this group. We will begin with the indicative mood. You must first identify the verb stem (jou-), then add various endings based on the subject pronoun and the tense of your sentence. Using this chart, you can learn that I am playing is  je joue  and that we will play is  nous jouerons. Practicing these in context will help you memorize them, so go ahead and play around with  jouer. Present Future Imperfect je joue jouerai jouais tu joues joueras jouais il joue jouera jouait nous jouons jouerons jouions vous jouez jouerez jouiez ils jouent joueront jouaient To form the  present participle  of jouer, add -ant  to the verb stem. The result is jouant. Among the many compound tenses that you can learn, the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is the most common and easiest to construct. To form this past tense of  jouer, you will use the  past participle  jouà © along with the auxiliary verb  avoir.  For example, we played is  nous avons jouà ©. There are a few more simple conjugations you can use for  jouer  and they each serve a purpose. The  subjunctive and the  conditional each imply uncertainty to the action in their own way. If you do much reading, its possible that you will come across either the  passà © simple or the  imperfect subjunctive. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je joue jouerais jouai jouasse tu joues jouerais jouas jouasses il joue jouerait joua jout nous jouions jouerions joumes jouassions vous jouiez joueriez joutes jouassiez ils jouent joueraient jourent jouassent There will be times when you want to say something as simple as, Play! For this, the  imperative verb mood is used and you can skip the subject pronoun completely, leaving it at Joue! Imperative (tu) joue (nous) jouons (vous) jouez Jouer  With No Preposition Jouer with no preposition means to play, have fun, or fool around: Arrà ªte de  jouer!  -  Stop playing/fooling around!Je  fais  Ãƒ §a pour  jouer.  -  Im doing that for fun. In reference to music, theater, television, and movies,  jouer  means to play or perform: Quel  orchestre  va  jouer  ce  soir?  -  Which orchestra is playing tonight?Tu  joues  trà ¨s  bien. -  You act very well.  / Youre a very good actor. Jouer  can also mean to gamble, bet, wager,  to speculate (in the stock market), or to deceive or dupe, as  in:   Messieurs,  faites  vos  jeux.  -  Gentlemen, place your bets. (roulette especially) Jouer  With Prepositions Jouer  can be used both transitively and intransitively, and it requires different prepositions depending on what exactly is being played. Jouer à  Ã‚  means to play a  game or sport, or to play with something: Il  joue  aux à ©checs.  -  Hes playing chess.Nous  allons  jouer  au  golf.  -  Were going to play golf.Elle  ne  joue  pas à   la poupà ©e.  -  She doesnt play with dolls.  jouer  Ãƒ   la  guerre  -  to play soldiers Jouer de  means to play a musical instrument: Jaimerais  jouer  du piano. -  Id like to play the piano.Depuis  quand  joue-t-elle  de la  flà »te?  -  How long has she played the flute?Il  ne  sait  pas  jouer  de la  guitare.  -  He doesnt know how to play the guitar. Jouer  avec  means to play or toy with: Il  joue  toujours  avec  ses  cheveux. -  Hes always playing/fiddling with his hair.Il  ne  faut  jamais  jouer  avec  les  sentiments. -  You should never play with someones feelings. Jouer  sur  means to play on, use, or exploit: Jaime  jouer  sur  les  mots. -  I like to play with words  / make plays on words.Il  faut  jouer  sur  leffet  de surprise.  -  We should use the element of surprise. Using Se Jouer Se  jouer, the pronominal form of  jouer,  can be used in the  passive voice or the active voice  with quite different meanings. Passive In film: to be on,  to be shownIn theater:  to be on,  to be performedA piece of music:  to be played  or  performed Active   Mon sort  va  se  jouer  sur  cette  dà ©cision.  -  My fate  depends/hangs  on this decision.Lavenir du pays  se  joue  dans  cette  nà ©gociation.  -  The fate of the country  depends / hinges  on the outcome of these negotiations.en  se  jouant  -  with the greatest of ease Se  jouer  de  is the  pronominal  form plus the preposition  de.  It means to ignore, or to deceive, dupe, fool. Expressions With Jouer As you might imagine, there are a number of common French expressions that use  jouer. Among those are a few that you need to conjugate. Others already define the subject, so the conjugation is done for you (unless you change the subject pronoun). jouer avec le feu to play with fire (literally and figuratively) jouer franc jeu to play fair jouer le jeu to play the game (literally and figuratively) jouer un mauvais/vilain tour quelqun to play a dirty trick on someone se la jouer to show off (informal) Je ne joue plus. Im not playing anymore.(figuratively) I dont want to have any part of this anymore. quel jeu joues-tu? What do you think youre playing at? Ne joue pas au plus fin avec moi! Dont try to be smart/clever with me! Bien jou! (games) Well played! / Good move!(figuratively) Well done! Rien nest encore jou. Nothing has been decided yet. jouer gros jeu (literally and figuratively) to play for high stakes / big money jouer un rle (literally and figuratively) to play a part /a role jouer des poings to use ones fists