A Guide to Conjugating Battre (to Beat)

The French word battre means to beat. (The reflexive se battre means to fight, as does the verb combattre.) It is an irregular -re verb, meaning youll have to memorize the conjugations, rather than rely knowing on the regular -re conjugation pattern. How to Conjugate the French Verb Battre You can start as you would when conjugating a regular -re verb and determine the stem by dropping the -re (batt-). Heres where things deviate from a regular verb: In the present tense, the singular forms also drop the second t. These charts show you how to conjugate this irregular verb. (Other verbs that include battre, like  abattre, combattre  and dà ©battre, also follow this irregular pattern.) Present Future Imperfect Present Participle je bats battrai battais battant tu bats battras battais il bat battra battait nous battons battrons battions vous battez battrez battiez ils battent battront battaient Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive je batte battrais battis battisse tu battes battrais battis battisses il batte battrait battit battt nous battions battrions battmes battissons vous battiez battriez batttes battissiez ils battent battraient battirent battissent   Ã‚  Imperative(tu)bats(nous)battons(vous)battez How to Use  Battre  in the Past Tense Though this is a lesson about simple conjugation, its important to touch on the compound tense passà © composà ©, as it is the most common way to put something in the past tense in French. For battre, the auxiliary verb is avoir and the past participle is battu. For example: Il a battu les oeufs avec une fourchette.He beat the eggs with a fork.