Level: A2 (Upper Beginner)
🎧 Audio by Marie Assel Cambier, a native speaker & professional voice artist from France
The French Word of the Day is espérer, meaning “to hope.” There are a few key points about this verb: 1) it’s followed by an infinitive; 2) it has a very specific accent pattern; and 3) it does not take the subjunctive. We’ll explore everything below.
✅ Meaning
✅ Pronunciation
✅ Example sentences
✅ Related Words & Expressions
✅ Related lessons
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📘 Espérer meaning
Espérer is a regular French -er verb that means “to hope” or sometimes “to expect” depending on context. It’s commonly followed by an infinitive — for example: J’espère partir (I hope to leave).
🎧 Espérer pronunciation
The pronunciation of espérer is /ɛs.pe.ʁe/, which sounds like ess-peh-ray.
📝 French and English example sentences
Espérer – to hope
J’espère trouver un nouveau boulot avant la fin de l’année.
I hope to find a new job before the end of the year.
J’espère que tu viendras demain.
I hope you will come tomorrow.
Nous espérons apprendre le français avant notre voyage en France.
We hope to learn French before our trip to France.
Elle a espéré trouver une meilleure solution.
She expected to find a better solution.
See also:
👉 acute accent (é) »
👉 grave accent (è) »
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📊 Esperer conjugation
Here’s the basic espérer conjugation in the present tense. It’s a stem-changing regular -er verb: the é (acute accent) stays in the nous and vous forms, but changes to è (grave accent) in je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles.
- J’espère — I hope
- Tu espères — You hope (informal)
- Il / Elle espère — He / She hopes
- Nous espérons — We hope
- Vous espérez — You hope (formal/plural)
- Ils / Elles espèrent — They hope
See also:
👉 Espérer conjugation in French »
👉 Regular -er verbs »
👉 French accent marks overview »
Does espérer take the subjunctive?
Students often wonder whether espérer requires the subjunctive. The answer is no — it normally takes the future tense.
❌ J’espère que tu viennes (incorrect)
✅ J’espère que tu viendras (correct — future tense, not subjunctive)
The logic is simple: When you hope for something, you expect it to actually happen, so French uses the future, not the uncertain mood (subjunctive).
👉 See my complete lessons explaining the future tense and subjunctive mood. »
🔗 Related words and expressions
- un espoir — a hope
- plein d’espoir — full of hope
- désespérer — to despair, to lose hope
- Espérons que… — Let’s hope that…
- J’espère bien que… — I sure hope that…
- contre toute espérance — against all hope
- garder espoir — to keep hope
- souhaiter — to wish
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