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Boire Conjugation: How To Conjugate “To Drink” In French

Boire Conjugation: How To Conjugate “To Drink” In French

The conjugation of the French verb boire (Meaning: to drink; pronunciation bwaʀ) is je bois (I drink), tu bois (you drink), il/elle boit (he/she drinks), nous buvons (we drink), vous buvez (you drink) and ils/elles boivent (they drink). This post will provide conjugation charts in six major tenses.

Boire conjugation:

je bois I drink
tu bois you drink
il/elle boit he/she drinks
nous buvons we drink
vous buvez you drink
ils/elles boivent they drink

Boire is an irregular -re verb. This means that its endings in the present tense are different to the endings of other regular -re verbs. Tenses covered on this page include:

  • present tense (le présent)
  • passé composé
  • imperfect (l’imparfait)
  • future (le futur simple)
  • conditional (le conditionnel)
  • subjunctive (le subjonctif)

Boire conjugation table

The following is the conjugation table of boire in six major tenses. Further down the page we’ve included tables with example sentences.

Boire (to drink) conjugation table in six major verb tenses.

Boire conjugation charts

In the following we show how to conjugate boire (to drink) in charts with example sentences.

This page on our site covers French beverages vocabulary in detail. We’ve used many of these words in our example sentences.

The following is the conjugation of boire in the first-person singular (je) form in ten verb tenses.

Boire (to drink) conjugated in ten tenses in the first-person singular (je) form.

Present tense

In the present tense (le présent), je bois translates to both “I drink” and “I am drinking”. The present tense endings are -ois, -ois, -oit, -ons, -ez and -ent.

Boire conjugated in the present tense
Je boisI drinkJe bois le jus d'orange. I'm drinking the orange juice.
Tu boisYou drink (familiar, singular)Tu bois le chocolat chaud.You're drinking the hot chocolate.
Il/elle boitHe/she drinksElle boit du thé. She drinks tea.
Nous buvonsWe drinkNous buvons le vin rouge. We're drinking the red wine.
Vous buvezYou drink (formal, plural)Vous buvez un whisky. You're drinking a whisky.
Ils/elles boiventThey drinkIls boivent une bouteille de vin blanc.They're drinking a bottle of white wine.

You may use the following video by online French teacher, Alexa, to learn the pronunciation of boire in the present tense.

Passé composé

The passé composé is a commonly used French past tense and corresponds to the simple past and present perfect tenses in English.

The French use the passé composé to describe specific actions which occurred at specific times.

The past participle of boire is bu (drank). Boire uses avoir (to have) as an auxiliary verb in the passé composé. Hence, j’ai bu translates to “I drank”.

J'ai buI drankJ'ai bu le Coca. I drank the Coca-Cola.
Tu as buYou drank (informal, singular)Tu as bu le jus d'ananas.You drank the pineapple juice.
Il/elle a buHe/she drankElle a bu le vin chaud.She drank the hot wine.
Nous avons buWe drankNous avons bu la bière. We drank the beer.
Vous avez buYou drank (formal, plural)Vous avez bu la bouteille de champagne.You drank the bottle of champagne.
Ils/elles ont buThey drankIls ont bu l'apératif. They drank the cocktail.

Imperfect

The imperfect (l’imparfait) is another commonly used French past tense. The French use the imparfait to describe past actions which occurred at undefined times.

Hence, je buvais translates to “I used to drink” and “I was drinking”.

Je buvaisI used to drink, was drinkingAvant, je buvais beaucoup de boissons gaseuses. I used to drink a lot of carbonated beverages.
Tu buvaisYou used to drink, were drinking (informal, singularTu buvais le chocolat chaud quand tu étais un enfant.You used to drink hot chocolate when you were a child.
Il/elle buvaitHe/she used to drink, was drinkingElle buvait du vin quand il a commandé une pizza.She was drinking wine when he ordered une pizza.
Nous buvionsWe used to drink, were drinkingAvant, nous buvions ensemble tout le temps.We used to drink together all the time.
Vous buviezYou used to drink, were drinking (formal, plural)Avant, vous buviez toujours un apératif avant le repas.You used to always drink a a cocktail before the meal.
Ils/elles buvaient They used to drink, were drinkingIls buvaient du lait chaud avant de se coucher.They used to drink warm milk before going to bed.

Future

The French used the futur simple to express actions which will occur in the future. Hence, je boirai means “I will drink”.

Je boiraiI will drinkJe boirai du Orangina avec mon repas.I will drink Orangina with my meal.
Tu boirasYou will drink (informal, singular)Est-ce que tu boiras de la bière ce soir?Will you drink beer tonight?
Il/elle boiraHe/she will drinkElle boira du vin avec ses amis. She will drink wine with her friends.
Nous boironsWe will drinkNous boirons la bouteille de cidre.We will drink the bottle of hard cider.
Vous boirezYou (formal, plural) will drinkVous boirez du jus d'orange avec le petit déjeuner.You will drink orange juice with breakfast.
Ils/elles boirontThey will drinkIls boiront la champagne au mariage.They will drink champagne at the marriage.

Conditional

The French use the conditional tense (le conditionnel) to express hypothetical actions which “would” occur. Hence, je boirais translates to “I would drink”.

Je boiraisI would drinkJe boirais de l'eau si j'avais soif.I would drink water if I were thirsty.
Tu boiraisYou would drink (informal, singular)Tu boirais de la bière mais tu as oublié ton portefeuille.You would drink beer but you forgot your wallet.
Il/elle boiraitHe/she would drinkElle boirait du vin rouge mais elle préfère le vin blanc.She would drink red wine but she prefers white wine.
Nous boirionsWe would drinkNous boirions le Cola mais c'est trop sucré. We would drink Coca-Cola but it's too sweet.
Vous boiriezYou would drink (formal, plural)Vous boiriez le lait mais c'est périmé.You would drink the milk but it's expired.
Ils/elles boiraientThey would drinkIls boiraient la bouteille de champagne mais c'est trop cher.They would drink the bottle of champagne but it's too expensive.

Subjunctive

The French uses the subjunctive mood (le subjonctif) to express wishes, emotions and doubts. Hence, que je boive translates to “that I drink”.

que je boivethat I drinkIl faut que je boive de l'eau. I need to drink water.
que tu boivesthat you drink (informal, singular)Je doute que tu boives assez. I doubt you're drinking enough.
qu'il/elle boivethat he/she drinksIl faut qu'elle boive plus de l'eau minérale. She needs to drink more mineral water.
que nous buvionsthat we drinkIl faut que nous buvions le thé vert. We need to drink the green tea.
que vous buviezthat you drink (formal, plural)Je suis heureux que vous buviez notre vin rouge. I'm happy you're drinking our red wine.
qu'ils/elles boiventthat they drinkJe ne pense pas qu'elles boivent le vin chaud. I don't think they're drinking the hot wine.
Les enfants boivent du lait. 
Kids drinking milk.

More verb tables on our website:

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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