Conjugating the French Verb Réfléchir

Rà ©flà ©cher  is the verb that means to reflect or to think in French. Its a rather easy one to remember because it resembles the English word reflect. French students will also be happy to know that this is a pretty easy verb conjugation. After this lesson, youll know the most basic ways to use  rà ©flà ©chir  in the present, past, and future tenses. The Basic Conjugations of  Rà ©flà ©chir Verb conjugations allow us to give French verbs like rà ©flà ©chir meanings such as I reflected in the past tense or she is reflecting in the present tense. While French does make you memorize more forms of each verb than English does, you can use what youve already learned with other verbs to study this one. Rà ©flà ©chir  is a  regular -ir verb, so it uses a very common conjugation pattern that tells us which ending to use. First, however, you must recognize the verb stem:  rà ©flà ©ch-. Using that and the chart below, find the correct ending by looking for the subject pronoun and the tense that matches your subject. For example, I am reflecting is  je rà ©flà ©chis  and we will reflect is  nous rà ©flà ©chirons. Present Future Imperfect je rà ©flà ©chis rà ©flà ©chirai rà ©flà ©chissais tu rà ©flà ©chis rà ©flà ©chiras rà ©flà ©chissais il rà ©flà ©chit rà ©flà ©chira rà ©flà ©chissait nous rà ©flà ©chissons rà ©flà ©chirons rà ©flà ©chissions vous rà ©flà ©chissez rà ©flà ©chirez rà ©flà ©chissiez ils rà ©flà ©chissent rà ©flà ©chiront rà ©flà ©chissaient The Present Participle of  Rà ©flà ©chir The present participle of rà ©flà ©chir is formed by adding -ssant to the verb stem. This results in the word rà ©flà ©chissant. Rà ©flà ©chir  in the Compound Past Tense For the past tense, you can use the imperfect, though the passà © composà © is a good option as well. Its a compound that requires you to conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to the present tense, then attach the past participle rà ©flà ©chi. For example, I thought is jai rà ©flà ©chi and we thought is nous avons rà ©flà ©chi. More Simple Conjugations of  Rà ©flà ©chir While the conjugations above should be your first priority because theyre used most often, there are a few more you may need to know. For instance, the subjunctive is used when you have a question about the act of thinking. Likewise,  the conditional says that someone will think only if something else also happens. Though theyre not used as often, it is a good idea to also know the passà © simple  and  the imperfect subjunctive. Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je rà ©flà ©chisse rà ©flà ©chirais rà ©flà ©chis rà ©flà ©chisse tu rà ©flà ©chisses rà ©flà ©chirais rà ©flà ©chis rà ©flà ©chisses il rà ©flà ©chisse rà ©flà ©chirait rà ©flà ©chit rà ©flà ©chà ®t nous rà ©flà ©chissions rà ©flà ©chirions rà ©flà ©chà ®mes rà ©flà ©chissions vous rà ©flà ©chissiez rà ©flà ©chiriez rà ©flà ©chà ®tes rà ©flà ©chissiez ils rà ©flà ©chissent rà ©flà ©chiraient rà ©flà ©chirent rà ©flà ©chissent If you need to use  rà ©flà ©chir  in short commands or requests,  the imperative form  is useful. This is the one instance when its perfectly acceptable to skip the subject pronoun. You can shorten  nous rà ©flà ©chissons  to  rà ©flà ©chissons. Imperative (tu) rà ©flà ©chis (nous) rà ©flà ©chissons (vous) rà ©flà ©chissez