French guides · Verb tables + audio
Rester: to stay — and one of French’s best false friends.
Rester means “to stay”, and almost every English speaker assumes it means “to rest” at least once. It does not, and the mistake is quietly confusing rather than funny: je reste à la maison is “I’m staying home”, not “I’m resting at home”. The verb you wanted is se reposer. Beyond that it is a regular -er verb with one useful impersonal trick.
Présent — regular throughout
Stem rest-, standard -er endings, nothing to watch.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je reste | I stay | |
| tu restes | you stay | |
| il / elle reste | he / she stays | |
| nous restons | we stay | |
| vous restez | you stay | |
| ils / elles restent | they stay |
⚠ It is not “to rest”
One of the most reliable false friends in the language. The two verbs are unrelated and both are common.
| French | Means | |
|---|---|---|
| je reste à la maison | I’m staying home | rester = to stay |
| je me repose | I’m resting | se reposer = to rest |
| reste ici | stay here | |
| repose-toi | get some rest | reflexive |
English “rest” and French rester both descend from the same Latin root, which is why they look alike. English kept the sense of stopping to recover; French kept the sense of remaining behind. Both are faithful to the original in different directions.
Il reste — what is left
The impersonal il reste is how French says “there is … left”, and it is extremely common — at the table, at the till, and counting down to anything.
| French | Literally | Means |
|---|---|---|
| il reste du pain | it remains some bread | there’s bread left |
| il me reste dix euros | it remains to me ten euros | I have ten euros left |
| il ne reste rien | it remains nothing | there’s nothing left |
| il reste deux jours | it remains two days | two days to go |
Il reste deux jours, not “ils restent deux jours”. The il is impersonal — the same dummy subject as in il pleut or il y a — so it never agrees with what follows.
Passé composé — with être
Rester takes être even though nobody moves — it is on the list because it describes a state rather than an action done to something. The participle agrees: elle est restée.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je suis resté(e) | I stayed / have stayed | |
| tu es resté(e) | you stayed / have stayed | |
| il / elle est resté(e) | he / she stayed / have stayed | |
| nous sommes resté(e)s | we stayed / have stayed | |
| vous êtes resté(e)(s) | you stayed / have stayed | |
| ils / elles sont resté(e)s | they stayed / have stayed |
Imparfait — used to stay
Je restais, for habits and for background: on restait toujours chez ma grand-mère.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je restais | I used to stay / was staying | |
| tu restais | you used to stay / was staying | |
| il / elle restait | he / she used to stay / was staying | |
| nous restions | we used to stay / was staying | |
| vous restiez | you used to stay / was staying | |
| ils / elles restaient | they used to stay / was staying |
Futur and conditionnel
Full infinitive as stem: je resterai.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je resterai | I will stay | |
| tu resteras | you will stay | |
| il / elle restera | he / she will stay | |
| nous resterons | we will stay | |
| vous resterez | you will stay | |
| ils / elles resteront | they will stay |
Conditionnel — would stay
Je resterais bien — “I’d happily stay”, the polite way to accept another drink.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je resterais | I would stay | |
| tu resterais | you would stay | |
| il / elle resterait | he / she would stay | |
| nous resterions | we would stay | |
| vous resteriez | you would stay | |
| ils / elles resteraient | they would stay |
Subjonctif — regular
Identical to the présent in four forms.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je reste | (that) I stay | |
| tu restes | (that) you stay | |
| il / elle reste | (that) he / she stay | |
| nous restions | (that) we stay | |
| vous restiez | (that) you stay | |
| ils / elles restent | (that) they stay |
Impératif — stay
Reste ! with no s. Restez en contact — “keep in touch”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| reste ! | stay! (to one person you know) | |
| restons ! | let’s stay! | |
| restez ! | stay! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had stayed
J’étais resté, agreeing.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’étais resté(e) | I had stayed | |
| tu étais resté(e) | you had stayed | |
| il / elle était resté(e) | he / she had stayed | |
| nous étions resté(e)s | we had stayed | |
| vous étiez resté(e)(s) | you had stayed | |
| ils / elles étaient resté(e)s | they had stayed |
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Quick answers
Rester, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.