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FRENCH VERB

mener

to lead

  • Regular -er verb
  • Past participle: mené
  • Present participle: menant

Conjugation

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

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

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

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

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

How to use mener

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

  1. Present

    C'est Chloé qui mène la campagne pour l'école.

    It's Chloé who's leading the campaign for the school.

  2. Past

    Elle a mené la réunion comme une pro.

    She ran the meeting like a pro.

  3. Imperfect

    À la mi-temps, on menait trois à zéro.

    At half-time, we were leading three nil.

  4. Future

    Je mènerai la délégation à la préfecture.

    I'll lead the delegation to the prefecture.

  5. Conditional

    Ce chemin nous mènerait directement au lac ?

    Would this path take us straight to the lake?

  6. Present subjunctive

    Il faut que l'enquête mène à quelque chose.

    The investigation has to lead somewhere.

  7. Imperative

    Mène les enfants à l'école, je prends le petit.

    Take the kids to school, I'll take the little one.

Good to know

  • Mener une équipe, une enquête, une campagne; mener quelqu'un quelque part is to take them there; in a match, Lyon mène deux à un.

Where you hear mener

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

French · Fluency Level 2

  • C'est Chloé qui mène la campagne. It's Chloe who leads the campaign.
  • Elle a mené la réunion comme une pro. She led the meeting like a pro.
  • Je mènerai la délégation à l'académie. I'll lead the delegation to the academy.
4
Persuading Chloe to Lead

Fluency Level 2 · Chloé, c'est toi qui dois mener ça. Pas moi.

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Verbs like this one

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