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FRENCH VERB

saluer

to greet

  • #486 most used
  • Regular -er verb
  • Past participle: salué
  • Present participle: saluant

Conjugation

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

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

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

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

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

How to use saluer

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

  1. Present

    Il salue tout le monde dans le village, même les touristes.

    He greets everyone in the village, even the tourists.

  2. Past

    Tu as salué ta grand-mère avant de partir ?

    Did you say goodbye to your grandmother before leaving?

  3. Imperfect

    Le boulanger me saluait toujours par mon prénom.

    The baker always greeted me by my first name.

  4. Future

    Je saluerai tes parents de ta part.

    I'll say hello to your parents for you.

  5. Conditional

    Il me saluerait s'il me reconnaissait.

    He'd say hello if he recognised me.

  6. Present subjunctive

    Je tiens à ce que tu salues la voisine en partant.

    I want you to say goodbye to the neighbour when you leave.

  7. Imperative

    Salue bien Karim de ma part !

    Say hi to Karim from me!

Good to know

  • Saluer is to say hello or goodbye; salue-le de ma part is say hi to him from me.
  • Salut ! is the casual hi, and bye.

Verbs like this one

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