conduire

See also: conduiré

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French conduire, cunduire, from Latin condūcere (“lead, bring or draw together”), from con- + dūcō (“lead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.dɥiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

conduire

1. to drive (a vehicle)

   Il conduit la voiture.

   He is driving the car.

2. to lead, to conduct
3. (reflexive, se conduire) to behave, to conduct oneself

   Synonym: se comporter

   Les enfants se conduisent mal.

   The children are behaving badly.

Conjugation

Conjugation of conduire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	conduire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	conduisant /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		conduit /kɔ̃.dɥi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	conduis /kɔ̃.dɥi/	conduis /kɔ̃.dɥi/	conduit /kɔ̃.dɥi/	conduisons /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɔ̃/	conduisez /kɔ̃.dɥi.ze/	conduisent /kɔ̃.dɥiz/
	imperfect	conduisais /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɛ/	conduisais /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɛ/	conduisait /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɛ/	conduisions /kɔ̃.dɥi.zjɔ̃/	conduisiez /kɔ̃.dɥi.zje/	conduisaient /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɛ/
	past historic2	conduisis /kɔ̃.dɥi.zi/	conduisis /kɔ̃.dɥi.zi/	conduisit /kɔ̃.dɥi.zi/	conduisîmes /kɔ̃.dɥi.zim/	conduisîtes /kɔ̃.dɥi.zit/	conduisirent /kɔ̃.dɥi.ziʁ/
	future	conduirai /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁe/	conduiras /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁa/	conduira /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁa/	conduirons /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁɔ̃/	conduirez /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁe/	conduiront /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	conduirais /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁɛ/	conduirais /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁɛ/	conduirait /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁɛ/	conduirions /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁjɔ̃/	conduiriez /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁje/	conduiraient /kɔ̃.dɥi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	conduise /kɔ̃.dɥiz/	conduises /kɔ̃.dɥiz/	conduise /kɔ̃.dɥiz/	conduisions /kɔ̃.dɥi.zjɔ̃/	conduisiez /kɔ̃.dɥi.zje/	conduisent /kɔ̃.dɥiz/
	imperfect2	conduisisse /kɔ̃.dɥi.zis/	conduisisses /kɔ̃.dɥi.zis/	conduisît /kɔ̃.dɥi.zi/	conduisissions /kɔ̃.dɥi.zi.sjɔ̃/	conduisissiez /kɔ̃.dɥi.zi.sje/	conduisissent /kɔ̃.dɥi.zis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	conduis /kɔ̃.dɥi/	—	conduisons /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɔ̃/	conduisez /kɔ̃.dɥi.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• permis de conduire

 

Related terms

• conducteur
• conduite

Further reading

• “conduire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Alternative forms

• cunduire

Etymology

From Latin condūcere, present active infinitive of condūcō (“lead, bring or draw together”), from con- + dūcō (“lead”).

Verb

conduire

1. to steer; to guide; to lead
   • c. 1150, Turoldus, La Chanson de Roland:

     Si aiderez a cunduire ma gent.

     If you will help me guide my people

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of conduire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		conduire			avoir conduit
gerund		en conduisant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		conduisant
past participle		conduit
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	condui	conduis	conduit	conduions	conduiiez	conduient
	imperfect	conduisoie, conduiseie	conduisoies, conduiseies	conduisoit, conduiseit	conduisiiens, conduisiens	conduisiiez, conduisiez	conduisoient, conduiseient
	preterite	conduis	conduisis	conduist	conduisimes	conduisistes	conduistrent
	future	conduirai	conduiras	conduira	conduirons	conduiroiz, conduireiz, conduirez	conduiront
	conditional	conduiroie, conduireie	conduiroies, conduireies	conduiroit, conduireit	conduiriiens, conduiriens	conduiriiez, conduiriez	conduiroient, conduireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	conduie	conduies	conduie	conduiiens, conduions	conduiiez	conduient
	imperfect	conduisisse	conduisisses	conduisist	conduisissons, conduisissiens	conduisissoiz, conduisissez, conduisissiez	conduisissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	condui	—	conduions	conduiiez	—

Descendants

• French: conduire

References

• conduire on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (conduire)