# Envoyer Conjugation — Every Tense of the French Verb “To Send”

> **Envoyer** means “to send”. Présent: **j’envoie, tu envoies, il envoie, nous envoyons, vous envoyez, ils envoient**. The *y* becomes *i* wherever the ending is silent — and its futur is genuinely irregular: **j’enverrai**, not “j’envoierai”.

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Updated: 2026-09-16

## Présent — y becomes i

Wherever the ending is silent — je, tu, il, ils — the y becomes i. Where the ending is pronounced, in nous and vous, the y stays.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’envoie | I send |
| tu envoies | you send |
| il / elle envoie | he / she sends |
| nous envoyons | we send |
| vous envoyez | you send |
| ils / elles envoient | they send |

**Why the swap happens** — A y between two vowels is pulled in two directions. When the following ending is silent there is effectively no second vowel left to bridge to, so the y collapses back to a plain i. Every -oyer and -uyer verb does this without exception: nettoyer (to clean), employer, ennuyer (to bore), essuyer (to wipe).

**⚠ -ayer verbs get a choice** — Payer and essayer may swap or not — both spellings are correct. -oyer and -uyer verbs like this one have no such licence: the swap is compulsory.

## Sending things, and one idiom

Straightforward, with a preposition to watch and one phrase worth knowing so you recognise it rather than use it.

| French | Means |  |
|---|---|---|
| j’envoie un message | I’m sending a message |  |
| je lui envoie un mail | I’m sending him / her an email | the person takes à, so lui |
| envoyer chercher | to send for | literally “send to look for” |
| envoyer promener quelqu’un | to tell someone to get lost | literally “send them for a walk” |

**It is lui, not le** — You send something to somebody, so the person is an indirect object: je lui envoie, je leur envoie. Je l’envoie means you are sending it.

## Passé composé — envoyé

Regular, keeping the y: envoyé, with avoir.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’ai envoyé | I sent / have sent |
| tu as envoyé | you sent / have sent |
| il / elle a envoyé | he / she sent / have sent |
| nous avons envoyé | we sent / have sent |
| vous avez envoyé | you sent / have sent |
| ils / elles ont envoyé | they sent / have sent |

## Imparfait — and a double letter

Built from envoyons, so the y runs through the tense: j’envoyais.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’envoyais | I used to send / was sending |
| tu envoyais | you used to send / was sending |
| il / elle envoyait | he / she used to send / was sending |
| nous envoyions | we used to send / was sending |
| vous envoyiez | you used to send / was sending |
| ils / elles envoyaient | they used to send / was sending |

**nous envoyions has a y AND an i** — The stem ends in y and the ending -ions starts with i, so both letters survive. It is near-identical in sound to the présent nous envoyons, and dropping the i is a common written slip — the same trap as nous voyions.

## Futur and conditionnel — the irregular bit

The stem is enverr-. Not envoier-, not envoyer- — enverr-, with two rs, like voir’s verr- and pouvoir’s pourr-. There is no rule; this is a memorisation.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’enverrai | I will send |
| tu enverras | you will send |
| il / elle enverra | he / she will send |
| nous enverrons | we will send |
| vous enverrez | you will send |
| ils / elles enverront | they will send |

**The other -yer verbs stay regular here** — Nettoyer gives je nettoierai, keeping the swapped i. Only envoyer and its compound renvoyer take -err-.

## Conditionnel — would send

Same rogue stem: j’enverrais.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’enverrais | I would send |
| tu enverrais | you would send |
| il / elle enverrait | he / she would send |
| nous enverrions | we would send |
| vous enverriez | you would send |
| ils / elles enverraient | they would send |

## Subjonctif — back to the boot

The présent’s pattern returns — i in the boot, y for nous and vous.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’envoie | (that) I send |
| tu envoies | (that) you send |
| il / elle envoie | (that) he / she send |
| nous envoyions | (that) we send |
| vous envoyiez | (that) you send |
| ils / elles envoient | (that) they send |

## Impératif — send it

Envoie ! with no s, and the swapped i. With a pronoun: envoie-moi un message.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| envoie ! | send! (to one person you know) |
| envoyons ! | let’s send! |
| envoyez ! | send! (formal, or to a group) |

## Plus-que-parfait — had sent

J’avais envoyé.

| French | English |
|---|---|
| j’avais envoyé | I had sent |
| tu avais envoyé | you had sent |
| il / elle avait envoyé | he / she had sent |
| nous avions envoyé | we had sent |
| vous aviez envoyé | you had sent |
| ils / elles avaient envoyé | they had sent |

## FAQ

### How do you conjugate envoyer in the present tense?

J’envoie, tu envoies, il / elle envoie, nous envoyons, vous envoyez, ils / elles envoient.

### What is the future of envoyer?

J’enverrai — an irregular stem, enverr-, with two rs. “J’envoierai” is a natural-looking guess and is wrong.

### Why does the y become i?

Because the y only survives before a pronounced ending. In j’envoie the ending is silent, so it collapses to i; in nous envoyons it stays.

### Which verbs follow the same y-to-i rule?

All -oyer and -uyer verbs: nettoyer, employer, ennuyer, essuyer. They keep regular futurs, though — only envoyer and renvoyer take enverr-.

### How do you say “I’ll send him an email”?

Je lui enverrai un mail. Note lui — you send something to a person, so they are an indirect object.

## Related guides

- Essayer conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/essayer-conjugation
- Voir conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/voir-conjugation
- French verb conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/french-verb-conjugation
- All free French guides: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides