French guides · Verb tables + audio
Donner: who gets lui, and who gets le.
Donner means “to give”, and it conjugates with no surprises at all. What it is genuinely useful for is learning the difference between France’s two sets of object pronouns, because giving always involves two things at once: the thing given and the person it goes to. French marks them differently, and donner is the clearest place to see how.
Présent — a model -er verb
Stem donn-, standard endings. The double n belongs to the stem and never changes.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je donne | I give | |
| tu donnes | you give | |
| il / elle donne | he / she gives | |
| nous donnons | we give | |
| vous donnez | you give | |
| ils / elles donnent | they give |
The thing takes le; the person takes lui
Donner quelque chose à quelqu’un. The thing is direct, the person is indirect — and they use different pronouns.
| French | Means | |
|---|---|---|
| je donne le livre à Marie | I give the book to Marie | full version |
| je le donne à Marie | I give it to Marie | the thing → le |
| je lui donne le livre | I give her the book | the person → lui |
| je le lui donne | I give it to her | both, and in that order |
| donne-le-moi | give it to me | imperative flips the order |
Before the verb, the thing comes before the person: je le lui donne. In a positive imperative both move behind the verb and swap: donne-le-moi. French speakers do this without thinking; learners have to drill it.
Anything you can do to somebody: dire, écrire, envoyer, offrir, montrer, prêter, rendre. All take à before the person, and therefore lui or leur.
Donner or offrir?
Donner is neutral — handing something over. Offrir means giving as a present, or treating someone. For a birthday you offrez a gift; you do not donnez one, which would sound like a transfer of property.
- Tu peux me donner le sel ? — pass me the salt.
- Je lui ai offert un livre. — I gave her a book, as a present.
- Ça donne sur la mer. — it looks out onto the sea.
- Ça me donne faim. — that makes me hungry.
Passé composé — donné
Regular, with avoir. It agrees with a preceding direct object only — la lettre que je lui ai donnée — and never with the indirect one.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai donné | I gave / have given | |
| tu as donné | you gave / have given | |
| il / elle a donné | he / she gave / have given | |
| nous avons donné | we gave / have given | |
| vous avez donné | you gave / have given | |
| ils / elles ont donné | they gave / have given |
Imparfait — used to give
Je donnais, from the nous stem.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je donnais | I used to give / was giving | |
| tu donnais | you used to give / was giving | |
| il / elle donnait | he / she used to give / was giving | |
| nous donnions | we used to give / was giving | |
| vous donniez | you used to give / was giving | |
| ils / elles donnaient | they used to give / was giving |
Futur and conditionnel
Full infinitive as stem: je donnerai.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je donnerai | I will give | |
| tu donneras | you will give | |
| il / elle donnera | he / she will give | |
| nous donnerons | we will give | |
| vous donnerez | you will give | |
| ils / elles donneront | they will give |
Conditionnel — would give
Je donnerais. Je donnerais cher pour… — “I’d give a lot to…”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je donnerais | I would give | |
| tu donnerais | you would give | |
| il / elle donnerait | he / she would give | |
| nous donnerions | we would give | |
| vous donneriez | you would give | |
| ils / elles donneraient | they would give |
Subjonctif — regular
Identical to the présent in four forms.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je donne | (that) I give | |
| tu donnes | (that) you give | |
| il / elle donne | (that) he / she give | |
| nous donnions | (that) we give | |
| vous donniez | (that) you give | |
| ils / elles donnent | (that) they give |
Impératif — and the pronoun dance
Donne ! with no s. Attach pronouns with hyphens and reverse the order: donne-le-moi. In the negative, everything goes back in front: ne me le donne pas.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| donne ! | give! (to one person you know) | |
| donnons ! | let’s give! | |
| donnez ! | give! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had given
Je lui avais donné.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais donné | I had given | |
| tu avais donné | you had given | |
| il / elle avait donné | he / she had given | |
| nous avions donné | we had given | |
| vous aviez donné | you had given | |
| ils / elles avaient donné | they had given |
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Quick answers
Donner, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.