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FRENCH VERB

se planter

to mess up, in spoken French

  • Regular -er verb
  • Past participle: planté
  • Present participle: se plantant

Conjugation

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

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

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

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

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

How to use se planter

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

  1. Present

    Je me plante toujours dans les dates.

    I always get the dates wrong.

  2. Past

    Elle s'est plantée de train, elle arrive à minuit.

    She got the wrong train, she's arriving at midnight.

  3. Imperfect

    Il se plantait à chaque examen de conduite.

    He flunked every driving test.

  4. Future

    Tu ne te planteras pas, tu connais ton texte.

    You won't mess up, you know your lines.

  5. Conditional

    Sans GPS, je me planterais de route tout le temps.

    Without satnav, I'd take the wrong road all the time.

  6. Present subjunctive

    J'ai peur qu'on se plante d'adresse.

    I'm afraid we've got the wrong address.

  7. Imperative

    Ne te plante pas de jour, c'est mardi, pas jeudi.

    Don't get the day wrong, it's Tuesday, not Thursday.

Good to know

  • Je me suis planté is I got it wrong, I messed up; se planter en voiture is to crash; se planter devant quelqu'un is to plant yourself in front of them.

Where you hear se planter

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

French · Fluency Level 2

  • Je me plante toujours quand je parle en public. I always mess up when I speak in public.
  • Je me suis planté à l'oral de maths. I messed up the maths oral.
  • Tu ne te planteras pas, je serai là. You won't mess up, I'll be there.
4
Persuading Chloe to Lead

Fluency Level 2 · Et si je me plante ?

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Verbs like this one

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