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The French verb 'aimer' follows a pattern, like other regular '-er' verbs
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/French_aimer_conjugation-58adb07b3df78c345bb924b9.jpg "Conjugating the Regular French Verb 'Aimer' ('to Like, Love') (1)")
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Table of Contents
Using Aimer
Present Indicative
Compound Past Indicative
Imperfect Indicative
Simple Future Indicative
Near Future Indicative
Conditional
Present Subjunctive
ByLaura K. Lawless
Updated on February 25, 2020
Aimerisoneof the most common French verbs. Itis aregular -er verb, thus its conjugations follow a set pattern, without any exceptions. Out of all French verbs, the regular -er verbs are by far the largest group—larger than the regular-ir and-re groups, the stem-changing verbs, and the irregular verbs.
In this article, you can find the conjugations ofaimerin the present, compound past, imperfect, simple future, near future indicative, the conditional, the present subjunctive, as well as the imperative and the gerund.
Using Aimer
Aimer is mostly known as the word of love. However, besides saying that you love something or someone,aimercan also be used to express that we like or are fond of somethingor someone.In the conditional,aimeris a polite way to make a request or state a desire. And when in the pronominal form,s'aimercan be reflexive or reciprocal as in "to like oneself" or "to be in love."
- J'aime Paris.I like/love Paris
- Je t'aime, papa.I love you, dad.
- Pierre aime Marie.Pierre loves Marie/Pierre is in love with Marie.
- Louise est mon amie. Je l'aime beaucoup.Louise is my friend. I like her a lot.
- J'aimerais partir à midi. > I would like to leave at noon.
There are alsomany idiomatic expressions with aimer,such asaimer à la folie (to be madly in love) oraimer autant (to be just as happy with/that)
Present Indicative
| J' | aime | J'aime me balader au bord de la Seine. | I like going for walks along the Seine. |
| Tu | aimes | Tu vraiment aimes Joelle? | Do you really love Joelle? |
| Il/Elle/On | aime | Elle aime l'oignon soup. | She loves onion soup |
| Nous | aimons | Nous aimons aller en ville. | We like going to the city. |
| Vous | aimez | Est-ce que vous aimez aller danser? | Do you like to go dancing? |
| Ils/Elles | aiment | Elles aiment voyager. | They like to travel. |
Compound Past Indicative
Thepassé composéis a past tense that can be translated as the simple past or the present perfect. For the verb aimer, itis formed with theauxiliary verbavoirand thepast participleaimé.
| J' | ai aimé | J'ai bien aimé ce livre. | I quite liked this book. |
| Tu | as aimé | Je sais que tu l'as beaucoup aimé. | I know you liked her a lot. |
| Il/Elle/On | a aimé | Il y a trois ans, il a aimé cette petite voiture. Plus maintenant. | Three years ago, he liked this little car. Not anymore. |
| Nous | avons aimé | Nous avons aimé ton charactère vraiment beacoup. | We really liked your character. |
| Vous | avez aimé | Vous avez aimé les peintures de Matisse. | You liked Matisse's paintings. |
| Ils/Elles | ont aimé | Elles ont aimé chanter Edith Piaf, mais ça il y a des années. | They liked singing the songs of Edith Piaf, but that was years ago. |
Imperfect Indicative
The imperfect tense isanother form of the past tense, but it is used to talk about ongoing or repeated actions in the past. It can be translated to English as "was loving" or "used to love," although it can sometimes also be translated as the simple "loved" or "liked," depending on the context.
| J' | aimais | Je aimais beaucoup passer du temps avec mamie. | I used to love spending time with grandma. |
| Tu | aimais | Tu aimais bien nos promenades quand tu étais petit. | You used to like our walks when you were little. |
| Il/Elle/On | aimait | Elle aimait ses fleurs jusqu'au bout. | She used to absolutely love her flowers. |
| Nous | aimions | Quand on était enfants, nous aimions passer nos soirées à jouer aux cartes. | When we were kids, we used to like spending our evenings playing cards. |
| Vous | aimiez | Vous aimiez manger des champignons. | You used to like eating mushrooms. |
| Ils/Elles | aimaient | Ils aimaient faire de la cuisine ensemble. | They used to like cooking together. |
Simple Future Indicative
To talk about the future in English, in most cases we simply add the modal verb "will." In French, however, thefuture tenseis formed by adding different endings to the infinitive.
| J' | aimerai | J'aimerai écrire mon nouveau livre. | I will enjoy writing my new book. |
| Tu | aimeras | Vas voir le nouveau film de Tarantino.Tu aimeras ça. | Go see the new Tarantino movie. You'll like it. |
| Il/Elle/On | aimera | Il aimera te voir. | He will be glad to see you. |
| Nous | aimerons | Nous aimerons passer par là. | We will want to go by there. |
| Vous | aimerez | Vous aimerez le nouvel album de Jay-Z. | You will like Jay-Z's new album. |
| Ils/Elles | aimeront | Quand elles arrivent pour les vacances, elles aimeront visiter le Grand Canyon. | When they come here on vacation, they will want to see the Grand Canyon. |
Near Future Indicative
Another form of the future tense is the near future, which is the equivalent to the English "going to + verb." In French, the near future is formed with the present tense conjugation of the verballer(to go) + the infinitive (aimer).
| Je | vais aimer | Je vais aimer les cours de peinture. | I am going to like painting classes. |
| Tu | vas aimer | Tu vas aimer être maman. | You are going to love being a mom. |
| Il/Elle/On | va aimer | Elle va aimer son nouvel appartement. | She is going to like her new apartment. |
| Nous | allons aimer | Nous allons aimer vous avoir ici. | We are going to love having you here. |
| Vous | allez aimer | Vous allez aimer la vue de la montagne. | You are going to like the view from the mountain. |
| Ils/Elles | vont aimer | Elles vont aimer son nouveau copain. | They are going to like her new boyfriend. |
Conditional
The conditional mood in French is equivalent to the English "would + verb." Notice thatthe endings it adds to the infinitive are very similar to those in the future tense.
| J' | aimerais | J'aimerais bien le voir gagner. | I would like to see him win. |
| Tu | aimerais | Tu aimerais commencer une affaire. | You would like to start a business. |
| Il/Elle/On | aimerait | Elle aimerait t'inviter boire un verre. | She would like to invite you for a drink. |
| Nous | aimerions | Nous aimerions d'avoir plus de temps. | We would like to have more time. |
| Vous | aimeriez | Vous aimeriez vous marier dans un château? | You would like to get married in a castle? |
| Ils/Elles | aimeraient | Elles aimeraient aller voir leurs parents. | They would like to go see their parents. |
Present Subjunctive
The subjunctive mood conjugation ofaimer, which comes in after the expressionque +person,looks very much like the present indicative.
| Que j' | aime | Il ne sait pas que je l'aime encore. | He doesn't know I still love him. |
| Que tu | aimes | Je voudrais, que tu aimes ma nouvelle copine. | I wish you liked my new girlfriend. |
| Qu'i/elle/on | aime | Jean ést heureux, que Paul l'aime. | Jean is happy that Paul loves him. |
| Que nous | aimions | Elle espère que nous aimions sa tarte aux pommes. | She hoped we like her apple pies. |
| Que vous | aimiez | Maman a peur que vous ne vous aimiez plus. | Mom is worried that you don't love each other anymore. |
| Qu'ils/elles | aiment | Nous doutont qu'ils s'aiment. | We doubt they like each other. |
Imperative
The imperative mood is used to give commands, both positive and negative. They have the same verb form, but the negative commands includene...pasaround the verb.
Positive Commands
| Tu | aime! | Aime tes parents! | Love your parents! |
| Nous | aimons! | Aimons-nous plus! | Let's love each other more! |
| Vous | aimez! | Aimez votre pays! | Love your country! |
Negative Commands
| Tu | n'aime pas! | Ne l'aime pas! | Don't love her! |
| Nous | n'aimons pas! | Ne l'aimons plus! | Let's not like him anymore! |
| Vous | n'aimez pas! | Ne vous aimez pas! | Stop liking each other! |
Present Participle/Gerund
One of the uses of the present participle is to form the gerund (usually preceded by the prepositionen). The gerund can be used to talk about simultaneous actions.
Present Participle/Gerund of Aimer: aimant
Martin, aimant le gratin, en reprit trois fois.->Loving the gratin, Martin had three servings.
Format
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Your Citation
Lawless, Laura K. "Conjugating the Regular French Verb 'Aimer' ('to Like, Love')." ThoughtCo, Feb. 8, 2021, thoughtco.com/aimer-to-like-love-1369788.Lawless, Laura K. (2021, February 8). Conjugating the Regular French Verb 'Aimer' ('to Like, Love'). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/aimer-to-like-love-1369788Lawless, Laura K. "Conjugating the Regular French Verb 'Aimer' ('to Like, Love')." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/aimer-to-like-love-1369788 (accessed June 16, 2024).
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