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FRENCH VERB

suivre

to follow

  • #54 most used
  • Irregular -re verb
  • Past participle: suivi
  • Present participle: suivant

Conjugation

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

Present

Présent · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Passé composé · finished actions

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

Imperfect

Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

Impératif · requests and orders

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

How to use suivre

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

  1. Present

    Je suis un cours de cuisine le mardi soir.

    I'm taking a cooking class on Tuesday evenings.

  2. Past

    On a suivi le GPS et on s'est perdus.

    We followed the GPS and got lost.

  3. Imperfect

    Un petit chien nous suivait depuis la plage.

    A little dog had been following us since the beach.

  4. Future

    Je te suivrai en voiture jusqu'à l'hôtel.

    I'll follow you by car to the hotel.

  5. Conditional

    Tu suivrais une formation en ligne, toi ?

    Would you do an online course?

  6. Present subjunctive

    Il faut que vous suiviez les panneaux jusqu'au parking.

    You need to follow the signs to the car park.

  7. Imperative

    Suivez-moi, la salle est au deuxième étage.

    Follow me, the room is on the second floor.

Good to know

  • Je suis is both I am and I follow; the rest of the sentence tells you which.
  • Suivre un cours is to take a class.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: irregular -re verb.