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Acheter Conjugation: How To Conjugate “To Buy” In French

Acheter Conjugation: How To Conjugate “To Buy” In French

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 (to buy) conjugation in the present tense.

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.

Acheter conjugation table

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'achèteI buyJ'achète la nouvelle voiture cette année.I'm buying the new car this year.
Tu achètesYou buy (familiar, singular)Tu achètes le forfait de ski en avril.You're buying the ski pass in April.
Il, elle achèteHe, she buysElle achète la maison dans la vallée.She's buying the house in the valley.
Nous achetonsWe buyNous achetons le nouveau téléviseur. We're buying the new TV set.
Vous achetezYou buy (formal, plural)Vous achetez des biscuits pour les enfants. You're buying cookies for the kids.
Ils, elles achètentThey buyIls 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 achetéI boughtJ'ai acheté la nouvelle voiture. I bought the new car.
Tu as achetéYou bought (informal, singular)Tu as acheté trop de bonbons. You bought too much candy.
Il, elle a achetéHe, she boughtElle a acheté du fromage français.She bought some French cheese.
Nous avons achetéWe boughtNous avons acheté la bouteille de vin rouge.We bought the bottle of red wine.
Vous avez achetéYou bought (formal, plural)Vous avez acheté la nouvelle guitare.You bought the new guitar.
Ils, elles ont achetéThey boughtIls 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'achetaisI used to buy, was buyingAvant, j'achetais trop de bonbons. Before, I used to buy too much candy.
Tu achetaisYou 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 achetaitHe, she used to buy, was buyingElle achetait des disques compacts quand elle était à l'université.She used to buy CDs when she was in university.
Nous achetionsWe used to buy, were buyingAvant, nous achetions le déjeuner à la cantine.We used to buy lunch at the cafeteria.
Vous achetiezYou 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 achetaientThey used to buy, were buyingDans 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'achèteraiI will buyJ'achèterai la voiture si j'ai assez d'argent. I'll buy the car if I have enough money.
Tu achèterasYou will buy (familiar, singular)J'espère que tu achèteras la maison. I hope you'll buy the house.
Il, elle achèteraHe, she will buyQuand est-ce qu'elle achètera les billets?When will she buy the tickets?
Nous achèteronsWe will buyNous achèterons le bateau au printemps.We'll buy the boat in the spring.
Vous achèterezYou will buy (formal, plural)Ou est-ce que vous achèterez la souffleuse à neige?Where will you buy the snowblower?
Ils, elles achèterontThey will buyJe 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'achèteraisI would buyJ'achèterais la voiture si j'avais assez d'argent. I'd buy the car if I had enough money.
Tu achèteraisYou 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 achèteraitHe, she would buyIl 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 achèterionsWe would buyNous achèterions le bateau s'il était moins cher.We'd buy the boat if it were less expensive.
Vous achèteriezYou would buy (formal, plural)Vous achèteriez le vélo s'il était disponible. You'd buy the bike if it were available.
Ils, elles achèteraientThey would buyIls 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'achètethat I buyIl faut que j'achète cette voiture.I need to buy this car.
que tu achètesthat you buy (familiar, singular)Je suis heureux que tu achètes le vélo. I'm happy you're buying the bike.
qu'il, elle achètethat he, she buysJe ne sais pas si elle achète la maison. I don't know if she's buying the house.
que nous achetionsthat we buyIls veulent que achetions les billets.They want us to buy the tickets.
que vous achetiezthat you buy (formal, plural)Il faut que vous achetiez ce livre.You need to buy this book.
qu'ils, elles achètentthat they buyNous 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:

Acheter - To buy

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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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