Updated January 1, 2026 — Lesson written by French teacher David Issokson for students who want to learn French online, with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier, a voice artist from France.
Mettre meaning and pronunciation
Mettre means “to put,” “to place,” or “to set” in French. It is one of the most common and useful verbs in everyday conversation and is used to talk about putting objects somewhere, putting on clothes (mettre une veste — to put on a jacket), turning on something (mettre la lumière — to turn on the light), or causing a state or action (mettre quelqu’un en colère — to make someone angry).
The pronunciation of mettre is /mɛtʁ/ (IPA), which sounds roughly like “METT-ruh.”
📝 Mettre usage examples
1. To put / place
Je mets les clés sur la table.
I put the keys on the table.
2. To put on (clothing)
Il met son blouson avant de sortir.
He puts on his jacket before going out.
3. To spend (time)
J’ai mis deux heures pour finir ce devoir.
I spent two hours finishing this homework.
4. To add / put (in food)
Vous mettez du sel dans la soupe ?
Are you putting salt in the soup?
5. To begin / start (oneself)
Je me mets à travailler sérieusement.
I’m starting to work seriously.
6. To turn on (a device)
Mets la radio, s’il te plaît.
Turn on the radio, please.
🔗 Related words and expressions
The French use mettre constantly — not just to say “to put,” but in all kinds of expressions. Here are the top 5 most common ones.
- mettre la table — to set the table
- mettre du temps à — to take/spend time to do something
- se mettre d’accord — to come to an agreement
- se mettre en colère — to get angry
- mettre au courant — to inform / bring someone up to date
📚 Related lessons on FrenchLearner!
👉 mettre conjugation charts (with audio) »
👉 se mettre à (to start doing) – usage examples »
👉 remettre (to hand over) — usage examples »
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