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FRENCH VERB

dîner

to have dinner

  • #142 most used
  • Regular -er verb
  • Past participle: dîné
  • Present participle: dînant

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

  1. je I have dinner
  2. tu you have dinner
  3. il, elle, on he/she has dinner
  4. nous we have dinner
  5. vous you have dinner
  6. ils, elles they have dinner

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

  1. je I had dinner
  2. tu you had dinner
  3. il, elle, on he/she had dinner
  4. nous we had dinner
  5. vous you had dinner
  6. ils, elles they had dinner

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

  1. je I used to have dinner
  2. tu you used to have dinner
  3. il, elle, on he/she used to have dinner
  4. nous we used to have dinner
  5. vous you used to have dinner
  6. ils, elles they used to have dinner

Future

Futur simple · plans; in speech, “je vais parler” is just as common

  1. je I will have dinner
  2. tu you will have dinner
  3. il, elle, on he/she will have dinner
  4. nous we will have dinner
  5. vous you will have dinner
  6. ils, elles they will have dinner

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

  1. je I would have dinner
  2. tu you would have dinner
  3. il, elle, on he/she would have dinner
  4. nous we would have dinner
  5. vous you would have dinner
  6. ils, elles they would have dinner

Present subjunctive

Subjonctif présent · wishes, doubts, “il faut que …”

  1. je (that) I have dinner
  2. tu (that) you have dinner
  3. il, elle, on (that) he/she have dinner
  4. nous (that) we have dinner
  5. vous (that) you have dinner
  6. ils, elles (that) they have dinner

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

  1. tu have dinner!
  2. nous have dinner! (let’s)
  3. vous have dinner! (plural, or formal)

How to use dîner

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    On dîne chez mes parents ce soir.

    We're having dinner at my parents' tonight.

  2. Past

    J'ai dîné d'une soupe et d'un fruit.

    I had soup and a piece of fruit for dinner.

  3. Imperfect

    En Espagne, on dînait vers vingt-deux heures.

    In Spain, we had dinner around ten.

  4. Future

    Vous dînerez avec nous samedi ?

    Will you have dinner with us on Saturday?

  5. Conditional

    On dînerait bien au restaurant chinois du coin.

    We'd quite like dinner at the Chinese place on the corner.

  6. Present subjunctive

    Je préfère qu'on dîne tôt, je suis fatiguée.

    I'd rather we had dinner early, I'm tired.

  7. Imperative

    Dînez sans moi, je rentre tard ce soir.

    Have dinner without me, I'm home late tonight.

Where you hear dîner

The lessons that teach a form of it, and how they say it.

French · Beginner Level 2

  • On dîne à vingt heures. We have dinner at eight.
  • Hier, j'ai dîné chez Chloé. Yesterday, I had dinner at Chloe's.
  • On va dîner au restaurant ce soir. We're going to have dinner at the restaurant tonight.
12
A Day in My Life

Beginner Level 2 · on dîne

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Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: regular -er verb.