French guides · Verb tables + audio
Comprendre: to understand — and what to say when you don’t.
Comprendre means “to understand”, and it is prendre wearing a prefix: every form, every stem change, every irregularity is identical. Learn one and you have both. It is also, realistically, among the first verbs you will need in France — usually in the negative, and usually in a hurry.
Présent — prendre’s pattern exactly
The d holds in the singular and drops in the plural, with the n doubling for ils. If you already know prendre, there is nothing new here at all — the prefix does not change a thing.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je comprends | I understand | |
| tu comprends | you understand | |
| il / elle comprend | he / she understands | |
| nous comprenons | we understand | |
| vous comprenez | you understand | |
| ils / elles comprennent | they understand |
Every compound of prendre behaves the same way: apprendre (to learn), reprendre (to take back, to resume), surprendre (to surprise), entreprendre (to undertake). Six verbs, one table.
When you have not understood
Worth having ready before you need them. Note that the bare je ne comprends pas is correct but closes the conversation — the useful phrases ask for something specific instead.
| French | Means | When |
|---|---|---|
| je ne comprends pas | I don’t understand | the blunt one |
| je n’ai pas compris | I didn’t catch that | about one specific thing just said |
| vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ? | could you say that again? | the most useful of the four |
| plus lentement, s’il vous plaît | more slowly, please | when speed is the problem |
| qu’est-ce que ça veut dire ? | what does that mean? | about one word |
Je ne comprends pas describes a general state — “I don’t understand French”. Je n’ai pas compris is about the sentence that just went past. Using the présent when you mean the passé composé makes it sound as though nothing is getting through at all, and people will switch to English.
Passé composé — compris
Participle compris, with avoir. On its own, compris ? is a curt “got it?” and compris ! a curt “got it”. Both are common and both are informal.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai compris | I understood / have understood | |
| tu as compris | you understood / have understood | |
| il / elle a compris | he / she understood / have understood | |
| nous avons compris | we understood / have understood | |
| vous avez compris | you understood / have understood | |
| ils / elles ont compris | they understood / have understood |
Imparfait — the understanding that lasted
From the nous stem, so no d anywhere: je comprenais. This is the tense for how things were — je ne comprenais rien au début, “I understood nothing at first”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je comprenais | I understood / used to understand | |
| tu comprenais | you understood / used to understand | |
| il / elle comprenait | he / she understood / used to understand | |
| nous comprenions | we understood / used to understand | |
| vous compreniez | you understood / used to understand | |
| ils / elles comprenaient | they understood / used to understand |
Futur and conditionnel — the d returns
Built off the infinitive, so the stem is comprendr- and the d is back. Regular from here on.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je comprendrai | I will understand | |
| tu comprendras | you will understand | |
| il / elle comprendra | he / she will understand | |
| nous comprendrons | we will understand | |
| vous comprendrez | you will understand | |
| ils / elles comprendront | they will understand |
Conditionnel — would understand
Je comprendrais. Often used to grant somebody permission to be annoyed: je comprendrais que tu sois fâché, “I’d understand if you were angry”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je comprendrais | I would understand | |
| tu comprendrais | you would understand | |
| il / elle comprendrait | he / she would understand | |
| nous comprendrions | we would understand | |
| vous comprendriez | you would understand | |
| ils / elles comprendraient | they would understand |
Subjonctif — comprenne
The same boot shape as the présent. Il faut que tu comprennes — “you need to understand”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je comprenne | (that) I understand | |
| tu comprennes | (that) you understand | |
| il / elle comprenne | (that) he / she understand | |
| nous comprenions | (that) we understand | |
| vous compreniez | (that) you understand | |
| ils / elles comprennent | (that) they understand |
Impératif — rarely an order
Comprends ! exists but is unusual — telling somebody to understand is as odd in French as in English. Comprenez bien que…, “be clear that…”, is the form you are likeliest to meet.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| comprends ! | understand! (to one person you know) | |
| comprenons ! | let’s understand! | |
| comprenez ! | understand! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had understood
J’avais compris — very often with mal in front of the participle: j’avais mal compris, “I’d misunderstood”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais compris | I had understood | |
| tu avais compris | you had understood | |
| il / elle avait compris | he / she had understood | |
| nous avions compris | we had understood | |
| vous aviez compris | you had understood | |
| ils / elles avaient compris | they had understood |
Hear it, then say it
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Quick answers
Comprendre, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.