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FRENCH VERB

donner

to give

  • #15 most used
  • Regular -er verb
  • Past participle: donné
  • Present participle: donnant

Conjugation

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

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

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

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

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

How to use donner

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

  1. Present

    Ma chambre donne sur la cour, c'est calme.

    My room looks onto the courtyard, it's quiet.

  2. Past

    Il m'a donné son numéro de téléphone.

    He gave me his phone number.

  3. Imperfect

    Elle donnait des cours de danse le mercredi.

    She gave dance lessons on Wednesdays.

  4. Future

    Je te donnerai la réponse demain matin.

    I'll give you the answer tomorrow morning.

  5. Conditional

    Tu me donnerais un coup de main ?

    Would you give me a hand?

  6. Present subjunctive

    Il faut que je donne mes clés au voisin.

    I need to give my keys to the neighbour.

  7. Imperative

    Donne-moi cinq minutes, je finis mon café.

    Give me five minutes, I'm finishing my coffee.

Good to know

  • Donner sur: a window "donne sur" the street it faces.

Where you hear donner

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

French · Beginner Level 2

  • Je lui donne le message. I'll give her the message.
  • Je lui ai donné les clés. I gave her the keys.
  • Je vais lui donner un livre. I'm going to give her a book.

French · Beginner Level 3

  • Je lui donne des cours le mercredi. I give him lessons on Wednesdays.
  • Je lui ai donné les clés. I gave her the keys.
  • Je vais lui donner un livre. I'm going to give her a book.
14
On the Phone

Beginner Level 2 · donner · je lui ai donné

Needs a subscription 25
Cooking with Sylvie

Beginner Level 2 · donne-moi

Needs a subscription 5
English for Leo

Beginner Level 3 · lui donner des cours

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Verbs like this one

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