How to conjugate the French verb acheter
Acheter (Pronunciation: aʃ(ə)te] means to buy and to purchase in French. The conjugation of acheter in the present tense is j’achète (I buy), tu achètes (you buy), il, elle achète (he, she buys), nous achetons (we buy), vous achetez (you buy) and ils, elles achètent (they buy).

Acheter is a regular -er verb. This means that its endings when conjugated in the present tense are the same as other regular -er verbs.
Acheter has a slight irregularity in that there is an accent grave (è) over the -e in the je, tu, il/elle and il/elles forms. This page on our site explains French accent marks.
Further down the page we’ve provided conjugation charts for acheter in the following tenses. Keep reading as we’ve provided lots of example sentences for each tense.
- Present
- Passé composé
- Imperfect
- Future
- Conditional
- subjunctive
- Imperative
Acheter conjugation table: quick overview.

How to use “acheter”
In the first two sample sentences below, acheter appears in the infinitive form. In the third sentence, it appears in the conjugated form.
- Je voudrais acheter une voiture. I’d like to buy a car.
- J’aimerais acheter les skis. I’d like to buy the skis.
- J’achète ce vélo. I’m buying this bike.
Acheter qqch à quelqu’un means to buy something from somebody else.
- J’achète ces skis à mon amie. I’m buying these skis from my friend.
S’acheter in the reflexive form can translate to “be bought” or “be purchased”.
- Les meilleures choses dans la vie ne s’achètent pas. The best things in life can’t be bought.
Acheter en solde means to buy on sale.
- Tu aimes ma chemise ? Je l’ai achetée en solde. You like my shirt? I bought it on sale.
Acheter en ligne means to buy online.
- J’achète tous mes livres en ligne. I buy all my books online.
Un achat is a purchase and faire les achats is a way of saying to go shopping.
- Je fais mes achats au supermarché. I go my shopping at the supermarket.
Un acheteur/une acheteuse is a buyer.
- Qui est l’acheteur de ce restaurant? Who’s the buyer of this restaurant?

Acheter conjugation charts
In this section we’ve conjugated acheter in six tenses which are necessary to speak French fluently.
Present tense
In the present tense, j’achète translates to “I buy” and “I am buying”.
J'achète | I buy | J'achète la nouvelle voiture cette année. | I'm buying the new car this year. |
Tu achètes | You buy (familiar, singular) | Tu achètes le forfait de ski en avril. | You're buying the ski pass in April. |
Il, elle achète | He, she buys | Elle achète la maison dans la vallée. | She's buying the house in the valley. |
Nous achetons | We buy | Nous achetons le nouveau téléviseur. | We're buying the new TV set. |
Vous achetez | You buy (formal, plural) | Vous achetez des biscuits pour les enfants. | You're buying cookies for the kids. |
Ils, elles achètent | They buy | Ils achètent quelques produits pour la maison. | They're buying some products for the home. |
In the following video YouTube French teacher Alexa show how to conjugate acheter in the present tense and provides example sentences.
Passé composé
In the passé composé, j’ai acheté translates to “I bought”.
J'ai acheté | I bought | J'ai acheté la nouvelle voiture. | I bought the new car. |
Tu as acheté | You bought (informal, singular) | Tu as acheté trop de bonbons. | You bought too much candy. |
Il, elle a acheté | He, she bought | Elle a acheté du fromage français. | She bought some French cheese. |
Nous avons acheté | We bought | Nous avons acheté la bouteille de vin rouge. | We bought the bottle of red wine. |
Vous avez acheté | You bought (formal, plural) | Vous avez acheté la nouvelle guitare. | You bought the new guitar. |
Ils, elles ont acheté | They bought | Ils ont acheté trois billets pour le concert. | They bought three tickets for the concert. |
Imperfect tense
In the imperfect tense (l’imparfait), j’achetais translates to “I was buying”, “I used to buy” and “I bought”.
J'achetais | I used to buy, was buying | Avant, j'achetais trop de bonbons. | Before, I used to buy too much candy. |
Tu achetais | You used to buy, were buying (informal, singular) | Tu achetais des cartes de collection de base-ball quand tu étais un enfant. | You used to buy baseball cards when you were a child. |
Il, elle achetait | He, she used to buy, was buying | Elle achetait des disques compacts quand elle était à l'université. | She used to buy CDs when she was in university. |
Nous achetions | We used to buy, were buying | Avant, nous achetions le déjeuner à la cantine. | We used to buy lunch at the cafeteria. |
Vous achetiez | You used to buy, were buying (formal, plural) | Qu'est-ce que vous achetiez quand vous étiez au lycée? | What did you used to buy when you were in high school? |
Ils, elles achetaient | They used to buy, were buying | Dans le passé ils achetaient les vêtements au centre commercial. | In the past they bought clothes at the mall. |
Future tense
In the future tense (le futur simple), je achetèrai translates to “I will buy”.
J'achèterai | I will buy | J'achèterai la voiture si j'ai assez d'argent. | I'll buy the car if I have enough money. |
Tu achèteras | You will buy (familiar, singular) | J'espère que tu achèteras la maison. | I hope you'll buy the house. |
Il, elle achètera | He, she will buy | Quand est-ce qu'elle achètera les billets? | When will she buy the tickets? |
Nous achèterons | We will buy | Nous achèterons le bateau au printemps. | We'll buy the boat in the spring. |
Vous achèterez | You will buy (formal, plural) | Où est-ce que vous achèterez la souffleuse à neige? | Where will you buy the snowblower? |
Ils, elles achèteront | They will buy | Je ne sais pas s'ils achèteront les meubles. | I don't know if they'll buy the furniture. |
Conditional tense
In the conditional tense (le conditionnel), j’achèterais translates to “I would buy”.
J'achèterais | I would buy | J'achèterais la voiture si j'avais assez d'argent. | I'd buy the car if I had enough money. |
Tu achèterais | You would buy (familiar, singular) | Tu J'achèterais la maison si tu avais assez d'argent. | You'd buy the house if you had enough money. |
Il, elle achèterait | He, she would buy | Il achèterait la bague pour sa fiancée mais elle est trop chère. | He'd buy the ring for his fiancée but it's too expensive. |
Nous achèterions | We would buy | Nous achèterions le bateau s'il était moins cher. | We'd buy the boat if it were less expensive. |
Vous achèteriez | You would buy (formal, plural) | Vous achèteriez le vélo s'il était disponible. | You'd buy the bike if it were available. |
Ils, elles achèteraient | They would buy | Ils achèteraient les skis s'ils étaient en sold. | They'd buy the skis if they were on sale. |
Subjunctive mood
In the subjunctive mood (le subjonctif), que j’achète translates to “that I buy”.
que j'achète | that I buy | Il faut que j'achète cette voiture. | I need to buy this car. |
que tu achètes | that you buy (familiar, singular) | Je suis heureux que tu achètes le vélo. | I'm happy you're buying the bike. |
qu'il, elle achète | that he, she buys | Je ne sais pas si elle achète la maison. | I don't know if she's buying the house. |
que nous achetions | that we buy | Ils veulent que achetions les billets. | They want us to buy the tickets. |
que vous achetiez | that you buy (formal, plural) | Il faut que vous achetiez ce livre. | You need to buy this book. |
qu'ils, elles achètent | that they buy | Nous sommes ravis qu'ils achètent notre yacht. | We're delighted that they're buying our yacht. |
Imperative mood
In French, the imperative mood (l’imperatif) is use to give commands.
Achète ! | Buy! (informal, singular) | Achète la voiture! | Buy the car! |
Achetons ! | Let's buy! | Achetons la maison! | Let's buy the house! |
Achetez ! | Buy! (formal, plural) | Achetez le billet! | Buy the ticket! |
Further your learning
Learning French verb conjugations can be difficult. Rather than straight memorization, we suggest considering our friend at at Frenchtoday.com, Camille’s, method of learning based sounds. She elaborates on her method in her post, The Secret To Mastering French Verb Conjugation.
Discover more:
- Être (to be) conjugation charts
- Avoir (to have) conjugation charts
- Parler (to speak) conjugation charts
- Aller (to go) conjugation charts
- Faire (to make, to do) conjugation charts
- Vendre (to sell) conjugation charts
