How to Conjugate Mener (to Lead) in French

How to Conjugate Mener (to Lead) in French The French verb  mener  means to lead. Its a simple word, but there is one little trick to learning its conjugations. A quick lesson will show you what that is so you can properly say I led or we will lead. Conjugations of the French Verb  Mener    Mener is a  stem-changing verb. It follows some rules that apply to most verbs that end in -e_er, such as  lever  (to lift). Essentially, the stem change appears in certain verb forms where the first  e  is changed to  Ãƒ ¨.  While it doesnt affect the pronunciation, the spelling does change, so pay attention to this. Other than that one simple change,  mener  is conjugated in a similar manner to regular -er  verbs, which is the most common pattern found in French. This is great news because, with each new one you learn, they become easier. To study these conjugations, begin by identifying the verb stem:   men-. Then, you will match the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense for your subject. For example, I am leading is je mà ¨ne and we will lead is nous mà ©nerons. Subject Present Future Imperfect je mne mnerai menais tu mnes mneras menais il mne mnera menait nous menons mnerons menions vous menez mnerez meniez ils mnent mneront menaient The Present Participle of  Mener   The present participle of mener  is menant. To form this, we simply added  -ant  to the stem. This is a verb, of course, but in some contexts, it can become an adjective, gerund, or noun as well. The Past Participle and Passà © Composà © Another way to express the past tense led is to use the  passà © composà ©. Its a simple construction that uses the  past participle  menà ©. You will also need to conjugate  avoir  (an auxiliary verb) to fit the subject pronoun. For example, I led is jai menà © while we led is nous avons menà ©. More Simple  Mener  Conjugations to Learn After you memorize all of those forms of  mener, think about adding a few more simple conjugations to your vocabulary. They can be quite useful at times. For instance, if you need to imply uncertainty to the action, use the subjunctive. When the action is dependent on something else, turn to the conditional. When reading French, it will improve your comprehension to be able to recognize the passà © simple and the imperfect subjunctive  as forms of  mener. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je mne mnerais menai menasse tu mnes mnerais menas menasses il mne mnerait mena ment nous menions mnerions menmes menassions vous meniez mneriez mentes menassiez ils mnent mneraient menrent menassent For short sentences such as exclamations and demands, you can use the imperative verb form and bypass the subject pronoun. Instead of tu mà ¨ne, use mà ¨ne alone. Imperative (tu) mne (nous) menons (vous) menez