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 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 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.

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.

Je bois	I drink	Je bois le jus d'orange.	I'm drinking the orange juice.
Tu bois	You drink (familiar, singular)	Tu bois le chocolat chaud.	You're drinking the hot chocolate.
Il/elle boit	He/she drinks	Elle boit du thé.	She drinks tea.
Nous buvons	We drink	Nous buvons le vin rouge.	We're drinking the red wine.
Vous buvez	You drink (formal, plural)	Vous buvez un whisky.	You're drinking a whisky.
Ils/elles boivent	They drink	Ils 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 bu	I drank	J'ai bu le Coca.	I drank the Coca-Cola.
Tu as bu	You drank (informal, singular)	Tu as bu le jus d'ananas.	You drank the pineapple juice.
Il/elle a bu	He/she drank	Elle a bu le vin chaud.	She drank the hot wine.
Nous avons bu	We drank	Nous avons bu la bière.	We drank the beer.
Vous avez bu	You drank (formal, plural)	Vous avez bu la bouteille de champagne.	You drank the bottle of champagne.
Ils/elles ont bu	They drank	Ils 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 buvais	I used to drink, was drinking	Avant, je buvais beaucoup de boissons gaseuses.	I used to drink a lot of carbonated beverages.
Tu buvais	You used to drink, were drinking (informal, singular	Tu buvais le chocolat chaud quand tu étais un enfant.	You used to drink hot chocolate when you were a child.
Il/elle buvait	He/she used to drink, was drinking	Elle buvait du vin quand il a commandé une pizza.	She was drinking wine when he ordered une pizza.
Nous buvions	We used to drink, were drinking	Avant, nous buvions ensemble tout le temps.	We used to drink together all the time.
Vous buviez	You 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 drinking	Ils 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 boirai	I will drink	Je boirai du Orangina avec mon repas.	I will drink Orangina with my meal.
Tu boiras	You will drink (informal, singular)	Est-ce que tu boiras de la bière ce soir?	Will you drink beer tonight?
Il/elle boira	He/she will drink	Elle boira du vin avec ses amis.	She will drink wine with her friends.
Nous boirons	We will drink	Nous boirons la bouteille de cidre.	We will drink the bottle of hard cider.
Vous boirez	You (formal, plural) will drink	Vous boirez du jus d'orange avec le petit déjeuner.	You will drink orange juice with breakfast.
Ils/elles boiront	They will drink	Ils 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 boirais	I would drink	Je boirais de l'eau si j'avais soif.	I would drink water if I were thirsty.
Tu boirais	You 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 boirait	He/she would drink	Elle boirait du vin rouge mais elle préfère le vin blanc.	She would drink red wine but she prefers white wine.
Nous boirions	We would drink	Nous boirions le Cola mais c'est trop sucré.	We would drink Coca-Cola but it's too sweet.
Vous boiriez	You would drink (formal, plural)	Vous boiriez le lait mais c'est périmé.	You would drink the milk but it's expired.
Ils/elles boiraient	They would drink	Ils 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 boive	that I drink	Il faut que je boive de l'eau.	I need to drink water.
que tu boives	that you drink (informal, singular)	Je doute que tu boives assez.	I doubt you're drinking enough.
qu'il/elle boive	that he/she drinks	Il faut qu'elle boive plus de l'eau minérale.	She needs to drink more mineral water.
que nous buvions	that we drink	Il faut que nous buvions le thé vert.	We need to drink the green tea.
que vous buviez	that 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 boivent	that they drink	Je ne pense pas qu'elles boivent le vin chaud.	I don't think they're drinking the hot wine.

More verb tables on our website:

• parler (to speak)
• manger (to eat)
• aimer (to like, to love)
• être (to be)
• avoir (to have)
• aller (to go)
• faire (to make, to do)
• devoir (must, have to)
• vouloir (to want)
• pouvoir (can, to be able)
• prendre (to take)

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