French guides · Verb tables + audio
Descendre: down, and what you carry down with you.
Descendre means “to go down”, and it is a regular -re verb conjugating exactly like vendre. Like its opposite monter, it belongs to the small group whose past helper depends on whether anything is being carried — and it is the verb you need for getting off a train, which is not obvious from the translation.
Présent — the regular -re pattern
Stem descend-, endings -s, -s, —, -ons, -ez, -ent. The sc is pronounced as a plain s — “day-SAHN” — and the first e is usually swallowed.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je descends | I go down | |
| tu descends | you go down | |
| il / elle descend | he / she goes down | |
| nous descendons | we go down | |
| vous descendez | you go down | |
| ils / elles descendent | they go down |
Être or avoir? — the same test
Is something being taken down? If yes, avoir and no agreement; if no, être and agreement.
| French | Helper | Means |
|---|---|---|
| je suis descendu | être | I went down |
| elle est descendue | être | she went down |
| j’ai descendu les valises | avoir | I took the cases down |
| il a descendu l’escalier | avoir | he came down the stairs |
Descendre l’escalier treats the staircase as a direct object, so it takes avoir: elle a descendu l’escalier. But elle est descendue par l’escalier — with par — takes être, because the staircase is now a route rather than an object. Same for monter.
Monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, passer, retourner — one test, six verbs.
Getting off, and other uses
Descendre covers more ground than “go down”, and one of its uses you will need on day one of any trip:
- descendre du train — to get off the train. (You montez dans it and descendez de it.)
- je descends à la prochaine — I’m getting off at the next stop.
- descendre à l’hôtel — to stay at a hotel.
- descendre en ville — to go into town.
- les prix ont descendu — prices came down.
Vous descendez ? — “are you getting off?” — is what somebody behind you asks when they want to move past to the doors. The answer is oui or non, allez-y.
Passé composé
The table shows the être version, which is the commoner one. Swap in avoir and drop the agreement when there is a direct object.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je suis descendu(e) | I went down / have gone down | |
| tu es descendu(e) | you went down / have gone down | |
| il / elle est descendu(e) | he / she went down / have gone down | |
| nous sommes descendu(e)s | we went down / have gone down | |
| vous êtes descendu(e)(s) | you went down / have gone down | |
| ils / elles sont descendu(e)s | they went down / have gone down |
Imparfait — was going down
Je descendais, from the nous stem.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je descendais | I used to go down / was going down | |
| tu descendais | you used to go down / was going down | |
| il / elle descendait | he / she used to go down / was going down | |
| nous descendions | we used to go down / was going down | |
| vous descendiez | you used to go down / was going down | |
| ils / elles descendaient | they used to go down / was going down |
Futur and conditionnel
Drop the final e: je descendrai.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je descendrai | I will go down | |
| tu descendras | you will go down | |
| il / elle descendra | he / she will go down | |
| nous descendrons | we will go down | |
| vous descendrez | you will go down | |
| ils / elles descendront | they will go down |
Conditionnel — would go down
Je descendrais.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je descendrais | I would go down | |
| tu descendrais | you would go down | |
| il / elle descendrait | he / she would go down | |
| nous descendrions | we would go down | |
| vous descendriez | you would go down | |
| ils / elles descendraient | they would go down |
Subjonctif — regular
From the plural stem, unchanged.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je descende | (that) I go down | |
| tu descendes | (that) you go down | |
| il / elle descende | (that) he / she go down | |
| nous descendions | (that) we go down | |
| vous descendiez | (that) you go down | |
| ils / elles descendent | (that) they go down |
Impératif — come down
Descends ! keeping its s. Descendez ici — “get off here”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| descends ! | go down! (to one person you know) | |
| descendons ! | let’s go down! | |
| descendez ! | go down! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had gone down
J’étais descendu — or j’avais descendu with an object.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’étais descendu(e) | I had gone down | |
| tu étais descendu(e) | you had gone down | |
| il / elle était descendu(e) | he / she had gone down | |
| nous étions descendu(e)s | we had gone down | |
| vous étiez descendu(e)(s) | you had gone down | |
| ils / elles étaient descendu(e)s | they had gone down |
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Quick answers
Descendre, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.