French guides · Verb tables + audio
Réussir: to succeed — and to pass, which passer does not mean.
Réussir means “to succeed”, and it conjugates like finir with no surprises. It earns a page for a false friend that catches nearly every English speaker who sits a French exam: passer un examen does not mean passing it. It means taking it. To pass, you need réussir.
Présent — finir’s pattern
Singular réuss- plus -is, -is, -it, plural with -iss-. The double s of the stem keeps a hard s sound throughout — “ray-ew-SEE”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je réussis | I succeed | |
| tu réussis | you succeed | |
| il / elle réussit | he / she succeeds | |
| nous réussissons | we succeed | |
| vous réussissez | you succeed | |
| ils / elles réussissent | they succeed |
⚠ Passer does not mean “to pass”
This one costs marks and causes real confusion in conversation, because both sentences are perfectly grammatical and mean different things.
| French | Actually means | |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai passé mon examen | I took my exam | says nothing about the result |
| j’ai réussi mon examen | I passed my exam | the result was good |
| j’ai raté mon examen | I failed my exam | also échouer à |
| je passe le DELF en juin | I’m sitting the DELF in June |
Réussir normally takes à, but with an exam or a test it takes the thing directly: j’ai réussi mon examen. Réussir à l’examen also exists and is fine; the bare version is more common in speech.
Réussir à — to manage to
Before an infinitive, the à is compulsory — and the meaning shades into “managing”, which puts it close to arriver à.
- J’ai réussi à le convaincre. — I managed to convince him.
- Je n’arrive pas à ouvrir ça. — I can’t get this open. (arriver à for the effort in progress.)
- Il a réussi dans la vie. — he’s done well for himself.
- Ce plat est réussi. — that dish came out well.
Close, and often interchangeable. Réussir à leans on the achievement; arriver à leans on the struggle. In the negative, je n’arrive pas à… is much the more common of the two.
Passé composé — réussi
Regular -ir participle with avoir: j’ai réussi. Also used as an adjective — une soirée réussie, “a successful evening”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai réussi | I succeeded / managed to | |
| tu as réussi | you succeeded / managed to | |
| il / elle a réussi | he / she succeeded / managed to | |
| nous avons réussi | we succeeded / managed to | |
| vous avez réussi | you succeeded / managed to | |
| ils / elles ont réussi | they succeeded / managed to |
Imparfait — the -iss- stays
Je réussissais, from the nous stem.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je réussissais | I used to succeed / was succeeding | |
| tu réussissais | you used to succeed / was succeeding | |
| il / elle réussissait | he / she used to succeed / was succeeding | |
| nous réussissions | we used to succeed / was succeeding | |
| vous réussissiez | you used to succeed / was succeeding | |
| ils / elles réussissaient | they used to succeed / was succeeding |
Futur and conditionnel
Full infinitive as stem, -iss- gone: je réussirai.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je réussirai | I will succeed | |
| tu réussiras | you will succeed | |
| il / elle réussira | he / she will succeed | |
| nous réussirons | we will succeed | |
| vous réussirez | you will succeed | |
| ils / elles réussiront | they will succeed |
Conditionnel — would succeed
Je réussirais. Common in encouragement: tu réussirais si tu essayais.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je réussirais | I would succeed | |
| tu réussirais | you would succeed | |
| il / elle réussirait | he / she would succeed | |
| nous réussirions | we would succeed | |
| vous réussiriez | you would succeed | |
| ils / elles réussiraient | they would succeed |
Subjonctif — -iss- everywhere
Que je réussisse, from the plural stem.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je réussisse | (that) I succeed | |
| tu réussisses | (that) you succeed | |
| il / elle réussisse | (that) he / she succeed | |
| nous réussissions | (that) we succeed | |
| vous réussissiez | (that) you succeed | |
| ils / elles réussissent | (that) they succeed |
Impératif — good luck
Réussis ! is not really said. Before an exam, French says bonne chance or, more idiomatically, bon courage.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| réussis ! | succeed! (to one person you know) | |
| réussissons ! | let’s succeed! | |
| réussissez ! | succeed! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had succeeded
J’avais réussi.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais réussi | I had succeeded | |
| tu avais réussi | you had succeeded | |
| il / elle avait réussi | he / she had succeeded | |
| nous avions réussi | we had succeeded | |
| vous aviez réussi | you had succeeded | |
| ils / elles avaient réussi | they had succeeded |
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Quick answers
Réussir, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.