Vendre (to sell) · All tenses

Regular -re verbs ending in -dre keep the 'd' in the il form and don't add a 't' (since the 'd' already supplies a consonant ending). Compare with -tre verbs which double up: mettre → 'il met' (drop the 't' and add nothing). The rule: singular il forms of -dre verbs end in '-d' (vend, attend, perd); singular il forms of other -re verbs end in '-t' (met, prend, met).

About 50 French verbs share vendre's exact conjugation: attendre (to wait), répondre (to answer), perdre (to lose), entendre (to hear), descendre (to descend), rendre (to give back), prétendre (to claim), défendre (to defend), confondre (to confuse), fondre (to melt), tondre (to mow). All follow the regular -re pattern. Most other -re verbs are irregular (prendre, dire, faire, mettre, vivre, suivre, lire, écrire, plaire, etc.).

Use avoir + the past participle 'vendu' (drop -re, add -u): j'ai vendu, tu as vendu, il a vendu, nous avons vendu, vous avez vendu, ils ont vendu. Every regular -re verb forms its participle this way (attendre → attendu, répondre → répondu, perdre → perdu).

Since vendre takes avoir, 'vendu' is invariable in standard cases. Exception: a preceding direct object triggers agreement ('la voiture que j'ai vendue' = the car I sold — feminine singular).

Use 'j'ai vendu' for a specific completed sale: 'hier, j'ai vendu ma voiture' (yesterday, I sold my car). Use 'je vendais' for habitual past selling: 'chaque été, je vendais des glaces' (every summer, I used to sell ice cream).

Vendre is regular in the imparfait: je vendais, tu vendais, il/elle/on vendait, nous vendions, vous vendiez, ils/elles vendaient. Stem 'vend-' from nous form 'vendons'.

Use 'je vendais' for habitual or repeated past selling: 'chaque jour, je vendais 100 unités' (every day, I used to sell 100 units). Use 'j'ai vendu' for a specific completed sale: 'hier, j'ai vendu 100 unités' (yesterday, I sold 100 units).

Yes — attendre (attendais), répondre (répondais), perdre (perdais), entendre (entendais) all conjugate identically to vendre in the imparfait. Once you know vendre, you know ~50 verbs in the imparfait.

The subjonctif of vendre is: que je vende, que tu vendes, qu'il vende, que nous vendions, que vous vendiez, qu'ils vendent. Stem 'vend-' across all six persons.

Use it after triggers of necessity, will, doubt, or contrast: 'il faut que je vende' (I need to sell), 'je veux qu'il vende' (I want him to sell), 'bien qu'ils vendent peu' (although they sell little).

The subjonctif adds an -e to the bare stem 'vend-' for je/tu/il (vende, vendes, vende), creating a visible difference from the indicative 'vend' (no ending). Pronounced almost identically — the final 'e' is silent — but the spelling distinguishes them.

The futur of vendre uses 'vendr-' (drop -e from infinitive 'vendre'): je vendrai, tu vendras, il/elle/on vendra, nous vendrons, vous vendrez, ils/elles vendront. The dropped -e is the standard -re-verb future pattern (attendre → attendrai, prendre → prendrai).

All French -re verbs drop the final -e before attaching future endings. The endings start with -a/-e/-o, so keeping the -e of the infinitive would create a triple vowel ('vendre+ai') that's awkward. Dropping -e creates a clean stem 'vendr-' for attachment.

Both express future selling. 'Je vendrai' (futur simple) feels slightly more formal. 'Je vais vendre' (futur proche) is more conversational for near-term plans.

The conditionnel of vendre is: je vendrais, tu vendrais, il/elle/on vendrait, nous vendrions, vous vendriez, ils/elles vendraient. Same stem 'vendr-' as the futur, plus imperfect endings.

Standard hypothetical: 'si j'avais besoin d'argent, je vendrais ma voiture' (if I needed money, I would sell my car). The 'si' clause uses the imparfait; the main clause uses the conditionnel. Never put the conditionnel in the 'si' clause.

'Vendrais-tu?' (= would you sell?) uses inversion to form a question. Equivalent: 'tu vendrais?' or 'est-ce que tu vendrais?'. The conditional 'vendrais' (rather than the indicative 'vends') softens the question — asking what someone would hypothetically do, not what they're doing now.