French grammar · Beginner
Jouer Conjugation: Every Tense, With the Silent Letters Explained
Jouer is a completely regular -er verb, so its endings never surprise you: je joue, nous jouons, j'ai joué. The only difficulty is spelling, because the stem ends in a vowel and swallows the letters that follow it — the e of jouerai is written but never pronounced, and nous jouions carries an i you can barely hear.
Nous jouions aux cartes tous les dimanches.
We used to play cards every Sunday.
What it is
Jouer belongs to the largest and tamest group of French verbs. Strip the -er and you get the stem jou-, and the standard -er endings attach to it in every tense. What makes learners hesitate is that the stem already ends in a vowel sound, so several written endings disappear when you say them out loud.
je joue, nous jouons, je jouais, je jouerai, j'ai joué — I play, we play, I was playing, I will play, I have played.
How to spot it
The stem is always jou-, in every single form. If you can hear or see jou- at the front, the rest is just the regular -er pattern.
- Je joue depuis l'enfance. — I've been playing since childhood.
- Ils jouent dans le jardin. — They're playing in the garden.
- Elle jouera samedi. — She'll play on Saturday.
- Vous avez bien joué. — You played well.
Je joue and ils jouent are pronounced identically. The -ent ending is silent, which is true of every -er verb but especially confusing here because the stem already ends in a vowel.
Jouer Quick Reference
Jouer at a glance, one form per tense
| Tense | Form (je) | English |
|---|---|---|
| présent | je joue | I play, I am playing |
| imparfait | je jouais | I was playing, I used to play |
| passé composé | j'ai joué | I played, I have played |
| futur simple | je jouerai | I will play |
| conditionnel | je jouerais | I would play |
| subjonctif | que je joue | that I play |
| impératif | joue, jouons, jouez | play, let's play, play |
| participe présent | en jouant | while playing |
Common Jouer Examples in French
The forms of jouer at work in ordinary sentences:
Present
- Je joue au foot le mercredi.
- I play football on Wednesdays.
- Tu joues trop à ce jeu.
- You play that game too much.
- On joue dehors ?
- Shall we play outside?
- Nous jouons ensemble depuis dix ans.
- We've been playing together for ten years.
Nous jouons keeps the u and adds -ons. There is no spelling change, unlike manger which needs mangeons.
Past
- J'ai joué toute la nuit.
- I played all night.
- Elle a joué du violon au concert.
- She played the violin at the concert.
- Nous jouions dans la rue quand il a commencé à pleuvoir.
- We were playing in the street when it started to rain.
- Ils avaient joué la même pièce l'an dernier.
- They had performed the same play the year before.
The participle joué never changes with avoir unless a direct object comes first: la pièce qu'ils ont jouée.
Future and Conditional
- Je jouerai si j'ai le temps.
- I'll play if I have time.
- Tu joueras avec ton frère.
- You'll play with your brother.
- Nous jouerions volontiers.
- We'd gladly play.
- Ils joueraient mieux avec un vrai entraîneur.
- They'd play better with a real coach.
Both tenses are built on the full infinitive jouer-, which is why the silent e survives in writing: jouerai, not *jourai.
Commands and Subjunctive
- Joue avec ta sœur !
- Play with your sister!
- Jouons cartes sur table.
- Let's put our cards on the table.
- Ne jouez pas avec ça.
- Don't play with that.
- Il faut que tu joues plus lentement.
- You need to play more slowly.
The tu imperative drops the s of joues: joue, not *joues. It comes back before y or en: joues-y.
How Jouer Is Built
One invariable stem, the standard -er endings, and three places where the spelling and the pronunciation part company.
The Stem Never Changes
Remove -er from the infinitive and you have jou-, which serves every tense. Jouer has no stem change, no doubled consonant, and no accent shift, unlike acheter or appeler.
Je joue, nous jouons, je jouais, je jouerai.
I play, we play, I was playing, I will play.
jou- + regular -er endings.
The Future Keeps the Infinitive Whole
Future and conditional forms are built on the entire infinitive, so the e of jouer stays in the spelling even though nobody pronounces it. Je jouerai has three written syllables and two spoken ones.
Elle jouera dans le film.
She'll be in the film.
jouer + ai → jouerai.
Nous and Vous Gain an I in Two Tenses
The imperfect and the subjunctive both add -ions and -iez to the stem, producing jouions and jouiez. The i is written and, in careful speech, faintly heard; leaving it out turns the imperfect into the present.
Autrefois nous jouions au tennis chaque dimanche.
We used to play tennis every Sunday.
nous jouons (now) vs. nous jouions (then).
The Participle Is Joué
Jouer takes avoir in compound tenses, so joué stays invariable unless a direct object stands in front of it. That happens most often with relative clauses and object pronouns.
La sonate qu'il a jouée était magnifique.
The sonata he played was magnificent.
avoir + joué, agreeing only backwards.
The Preposition Is Chosen Separately
Conjugating jouer is only half the sentence. Games and sports take à, instruments take de, and a role or a piece of music takes no preposition at all. The verb form is identical in all three.
Il joue au rugby, de la batterie, et le rôle principal.
He plays rugby, the drums, and the lead role.
à for games, de for instruments, nothing for roles.
Common Mistakes with Jouer
Incorrect: Je jourai demain. — I'll play tomorrow.
Correct: Je jouerai demain. — I'll play tomorrow.
The future stem is the complete infinitive, jouer-, so the silent e has to be written. Learners drop it because they cannot hear it.
Incorrect: Quand j'étais petit, nous jouons dehors. — When I was little, we played outside.
Correct: Quand j'étais petit, nous jouions dehors. — When I was little, we played outside.
The imperfect nous form is jouions, with an i before the ending. Without it you have written the present tense inside a past sentence.
Incorrect: Joues avec moi ! — Play with me!
Correct: Joue avec moi ! — Play with me!
The tu imperative of an -er verb has no final s. The s reappears only before y and en, as in joues-y.
Incorrect: Je suis joué au tennis. — I played tennis.
Correct: J'ai joué au tennis. — I played tennis.
Jouer forms its compound tenses with avoir, never être. Only movement verbs and pronominal verbs take être here.
Jouer in Every Tense You Need
Because jouer is regular, these tables double as a model for the thousands of other -er verbs. Substitute any regular stem and the endings hold.
Simple tenses
The present, imperfect, future, and conditional all sit on jou- or on the full infinitive. Notice that the future and the conditional differ only in the ending.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | joue | jouais | jouerai | jouerais |
| tu | joues | jouais | joueras | jouerais |
| il / elle / on | joue | jouait | jouera | jouerait |
| nous | jouons | jouions | jouerons | jouerions |
| vous | jouez | jouiez | jouerez | joueriez |
| ils / elles | jouent | jouaient | joueront | joueraient |
Je joue, tu joues, il joue and ils jouent are four spellings of one sound. Only the subject pronoun tells you who is playing.
Compound tenses with avoir
Every compound tense pairs a form of avoir with the participle joué. Change the auxiliary and you change the tense.
| Pronoun | passé composé | plus-que-parfait | futur antérieur |
|---|---|---|---|
| j' | ai joué | avais joué | aurai joué |
| tu | as joué | avais joué | auras joué |
| il / elle / on | a joué | avait joué | aura joué |
| nous | avons joué | avions joué | aurons joué |
| vous | avez joué | aviez joué | aurez joué |
| ils / elles | ont joué | avaient joué | auront joué |
Jouer never takes être, not even when it means to perform. Se jouer de quelqu'un, to make a fool of someone, is a different, pronominal verb.
Subjunctive and literary past
The present subjunctive reuses the present endings for four persons and the imperfect endings for nous and vous. The passé simple appears in novels and formal history writing.
| Pronoun | subjonctif | passé simple |
|---|---|---|
| que je | joue | jouai |
| que tu | joues | jouas |
| qu'il / elle / on | joue | joua |
| que nous | jouions | jouâmes |
| que vous | jouiez | jouâtes |
| qu'ils / elles | jouent | jouèrent |
Que nous jouions is identical to the imperfect nous jouions. Context, not form, tells them apart.
The Letters You Write but Never Say
Three spellings account for nearly every written error with this verb, and all three come from a stem that ends in a vowel.
The silent e of the future
Future and conditional stems are the whole infinitive, so jouer keeps its e in front of the ending even though the e is mute.
- Je jouerai demain.
- I'll play tomorrow.
- Nous jouerions si nous pouvions.
- We'd play if we could.
- Ils joueront sans moi.
- They'll play without me.
The same is true of every -er verb: étudier gives j'étudierai, créer gives je créerai. Dropping the e is a spelling error, not a variant.
The double vowel of nous jouions
The imperfect and subjunctive endings -ions and -iez land directly on jou-, producing a written sequence of three vowels. Skipping the i collapses the imperfect into the present.
- Nous jouions souvent aux échecs.
- We often used to play chess.
- Vous jouiez à quoi ?
- What were you playing?
- Il faut que nous jouions plus vite.
- We need to play faster.
Compare nous jouons, we are playing now, with nous jouions, we used to play. One letter carries the whole difference.
The imperative that loses and regains its s
Regular -er verbs drop the s of the tu form in the imperative, then take it back when y or en follows, purely so the two words link smoothly.
- Joue de la musique.
- Play some music.
- Joues-y sans moi.
- Play at it without me.
- Jouez plus doucement.
- Play more quietly.
Vas-y works the same way. The s exists only to give the tongue something to carry across to the vowel.
Jouer FAQs
- How do you conjugate jouer in the present tense?
- Je joue, tu joues, il joue, nous jouons, vous jouez, ils jouent. It is a fully regular -er verb, so the stem jou- stays the same throughout. Four of the six forms sound identical, which is why the subject pronoun matters so much.
- What is the past participle of jouer?
- Joué, used with avoir: j'ai joué, elle a joué. It only agrees when a direct object comes before the verb, as in la pièce que nous avons jouée, the play we performed.
- Why is the future je jouerai and not je jourai?
- Because the future stem of any French verb is built on the infinitive, and the infinitive is jouer. The e is silent in speech but obligatory in writing, exactly as in j'étudierai or je créerai.
- What's the difference between nous jouons and nous jouions?
- Nous jouons is the present, we are playing. Nous jouions is the imperfect, we used to play. The extra i is the only signal, so it is worth reading it aloud slowly until the two feel different.
- Is jouer regular in every tense?
- Yes. There is no stem change, no accent shift, and no doubled consonant anywhere in its conjugation, which makes it a good model verb. The only irregularity is in the pronunciation, where several written endings vanish.