French grammar · Intermediate
Mettre in French: To Put, To Wear, To Take Time, and To Start
Mettre means to put, and from there it spreads out: to put on clothes (mets ta veste), to take time (je mets vingt minutes), to switch something on (mettre la radio), and, with se mettre à, to start doing something. Its participle is mis, and a whole family of verbs — permettre, promettre, remettre — copies it exactly.
Mets ton manteau, il fait froid.
Put your coat on, it's cold.
What it is
Mettre is about placing something somewhere, and French stretches that idea a long way. Clothes get placed on your body, minutes get placed into a journey, a radio gets placed into the on position. Once you see placing as the core, the apparently unrelated meanings line up.
Je mets les clés sur la table, je mets un pull, je mets une heure pour venir. — I put the keys on the table, I put on a jumper, it takes me an hour to get here.
How to spot it
The singular stem is met- with a single t, and the plural doubles it: je mets, nous mettons. The participle is mis, short and irregular.
- Je mets la table. — I'm setting the table.
- Nous mettons les valises dans le coffre. — We're putting the suitcases in the boot.
- Elle a mis sa robe bleue. — She put on her blue dress.
- Ils mettent trop de sel. — They put in too much salt.
Je mets ends in -ts, which is unusual: mettre and its family are the only common verbs with that ending in the singular.
Mettre Quick Reference
The main uses of mettre
| Use | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Placing something | mets-le là | put it there |
| Putting on clothes | je mets un manteau | I'm putting on a coat |
| Taking time | je mets dix minutes | it takes me ten minutes |
| Switching on | mets la lumière | put the light on |
| Adding an ingredient | j'y mets du citron | I put lemon in it |
| Setting the table | mettre la table | to lay the table |
| se mettre à + infinitive | il s'est mis à pleuvoir | it started raining |
| se mettre + place | mets-toi là | sit yourself there |
Common Mettre Examples in French
Mettre in the sentences you'll actually use:
Putting Things Somewhere
- Où as-tu mis mon téléphone ?
- Where did you put my phone?
- Mets ça dans le tiroir.
- Put that in the drawer.
- J'ai mis le lait au frigo.
- I put the milk in the fridge.
- Ne mets pas les coudes sur la table.
- Don't put your elbows on the table.
The place takes its own preposition: mettre dans, sur, sous, à. Mettre au frigo uses à + le contracted to au.
Clothes
- Je mets mes chaussures et j'arrive.
- I'll put my shoes on and I'll be right there.
- Qu'est-ce que tu mets ce soir ?
- What are you wearing tonight?
- Elle a mis un pull en laine.
- She put on a wool jumper.
- Mettez une veste, il pleut.
- Put a jacket on, it's raining.
Mettre is the act of putting on; porter is the state of wearing. Je mets une veste, then je porte une veste.
Time and Effort
- Je mets vingt minutes à pied.
- It takes me twenty minutes on foot.
- Combien de temps mets-tu pour venir ?
- How long does it take you to get here?
- Elle a mis trois ans à finir sa thèse.
- It took her three years to finish her thesis.
- Il y met beaucoup d'énergie.
- He puts a lot of energy into it.
With mettre, the person is the subject: je mets une heure. With prendre, the task is: ça prend une heure.
Switching On and Setting Up
- Mets la radio, s'il te plaît.
- Put the radio on, please.
- J'ai mis le chauffage.
- I've put the heating on.
- On met la table pour six.
- We're laying the table for six.
- Mets ton téléphone en silencieux.
- Put your phone on silent.
Allumer is the more precise verb for switching on, but mettre is what people actually say.
How Mettre Works
A single-t singular, a doubled-t plural, and a set of extensions that all come back to placing.
One T in the Singular, Two in the Plural
Je mets, tu mets, il met use the short stem. Nous mettons, vous mettez, ils mettent double the t and pronounce it. The imperfect and the subjunctive are built on the long stem.
Nous mettions toujours la clé sous le pot.
We always used to put the key under the pot.
met- singular, mett- plural.
The Participle Is Mis
Mis is one of the shortest participles in French, and it agrees like any other when a direct object comes first: les affaires que j'ai mises dans le sac.
La lettre que j'ai mise à la poste est arrivée.
The letter I posted has arrived.
mis, mise, mis, mises.
Mettre du Temps À Faire
When mettre expresses duration, the person doing the task is the subject and the task follows with à or pour. Je mets une heure à finir, je mets une heure pour venir.
J'ai mis deux heures à réparer ça.
It took me two hours to fix that.
Person + mettre + time + à + infinitive.
Se Mettre À Means to Start
The pronominal form with à plus an infinitive marks the beginning of an activity, often a sudden one: il s'est mis à courir, he started running. It is more abrupt than commencer à.
Elle s'est mise à rire.
She burst out laughing.
se mettre à = start suddenly.
The Whole Family Conjugates Alike
Permettre, promettre, remettre, admettre, soumettre and transmettre all follow mettre exactly, including the participle in -mis. Learn one and you have learned six.
Il m'a promis de venir et il a remis sa décision à demain.
He promised me he'd come and he put his decision off until tomorrow.
-mettre → -mis.
Common Mistakes with Mettre
Incorrect: J'ai mit les clés sur la table. — I put the keys on the table.
Correct: J'ai mis les clés sur la table. — I put the keys on the table.
Mit is the passé simple third person; the past participle is mis with an s. The two are pronounced identically, which is why the spelling slips.
Incorrect: Ça me met vingt minutes. — It takes me twenty minutes.
Correct: Je mets vingt minutes. — It takes me twenty minutes.
Mettre needs a person as its subject when it expresses duration. To keep the impersonal English shape, use prendre instead: ça me prend vingt minutes.
Incorrect: Je porte mon manteau et je sors. — I'll put my coat on and go out.
Correct: Je mets mon manteau et je sors. — I'll put my coat on and go out.
Porter describes the ongoing state of wearing something. The action of putting it on is mettre, so the sequence is je mets, then je porte.
Incorrect: Elle s'est mis à pleurer. — She started crying.
Correct: Elle s'est mise à pleurer. — She started crying.
In se mettre the reflexive pronoun is the direct object, so the participle agrees with the subject: elle s'est mise, ils se sont mis.
Mettre Conjugated
Two stems and one participle. The future is regular for an -re verb: drop the e and add the endings.
Present, imperfect, future, subjunctive
The subjunctive and the imperfect both take the doubled t, so they look alike in the nous and vous forms.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur | subjonctif |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | mets | mettais | mettrai | mette |
| tu | mets | mettais | mettras | mettes |
| il / elle / on | met | mettait | mettra | mette |
| nous | mettons | mettions | mettrons | mettions |
| vous | mettez | mettiez | mettrez | mettiez |
| ils / elles | mettent | mettaient | mettront | mettent |
Il met has no ending at all beyond the stem, because -re verbs drop the t of the third person when the stem already ends in t.
Compound tenses and the conditional
Mettre takes avoir. Its participle mis agrees only with a direct object placed before the verb.
| Pronoun | passé composé | plus-que-parfait | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|
| j' | ai mis | avais mis | mettrais |
| tu | as mis | avais mis | mettrais |
| il / elle / on | a mis | avait mis | mettrait |
| nous | avons mis | avions mis | mettrions |
| vous | avez mis | aviez mis | mettriez |
| ils / elles | ont mis | avaient mis | mettraient |
The imperative is mets, mettons, mettez: mets ton manteau, mettez-vous là.
Se mettre, the pronominal form
As a pronominal verb, se mettre takes être in compound tenses and the participle agrees with the subject.
| Pronoun | présent | passé composé |
|---|---|---|
| je | me mets | me suis mis(e) |
| tu | te mets | t'es mis(e) |
| il / elle / on | se met | s'est mis(e) |
| nous | nous mettons | nous sommes mis(es) |
| vous | vous mettez | vous êtes mis(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | se mettent | se sont mis(es) |
Elle s'est mise à pleurer, ils se sont mis au travail. The agreement is with the subject because se is the direct object.
Se Mettre À and the Verbs Built on Mettre
The pronominal form and the prefixed family account for a large share of how often you'll meet this verb.
Se mettre à + infinitive
This marks the start of an action, usually a sudden or noticeable one. It takes être in the past and the participle agrees with the subject.
- Il s'est mis à pleuvoir.
- It started raining.
- Elle s'est mise à crier.
- She started shouting.
- Mettons-nous au travail.
- Let's get to work.
- Je me suis mis à la guitare l'an dernier.
- I took up the guitar last year.
With a noun rather than an infinitive it means to take something up: se mettre au piano, se mettre au sport.
Se mettre for position
Without à, se mettre means to place yourself somewhere: to sit, stand, or move into position.
- Mets-toi là, il y a de la place.
- Sit there, there's room.
- Mettez-vous en rang.
- Get in line.
- Elle s'est mise devant la fenêtre.
- She positioned herself in front of the window.
- Mettons-nous à table.
- Let's sit down to eat.
Se mettre à table is the standard invitation to sit down for a meal, and it implies eating rather than just sitting.
The prefixed family
Six frequent verbs share mettre's conjugation and its -mis participle. Their meanings all involve placing something somewhere, literally or figuratively.
- Permettez-moi de vous présenter.
- Allow me to introduce you.
- Je te promets de faire attention.
- I promise you I'll be careful.
- Elle a remis sa démission.
- She handed in her resignation.
- Il admet qu'il s'est trompé.
- He admits he was wrong.
Permettre and promettre both take à for the person and de for the action: je promets à mon fils de venir.
Mettre FAQs
- What does mettre mean in French?
- To put, in the broadest sense. It covers placing objects (mets-le là), putting on clothes (je mets un pull), switching things on (mettre la télé), and adding ingredients (j'y mets du sucre).
- How do you conjugate mettre?
- Je mets, tu mets, il met, nous mettons, vous mettez, ils mettent. The imperfect is je mettais, the future je mettrai, and the past participle mis, giving j'ai mis.
- What's the difference between mettre and porter for clothes?
- Mettre is the action, porter is the state. Je mets mes chaussures describes putting them on; je porte des chaussures noires describes what you have on. English uses put on and wear the same way.
- How do you say how long something takes with mettre?
- Put the person first: je mets une heure pour venir, elle a mis trois ans à finir. If you want the task as subject, switch to prendre: le trajet prend une heure.
- What does se mettre à mean?
- To start, often abruptly: il s'est mis à pleuvoir, it started raining. With a noun it means to take up an activity: elle s'est mise au yoga, she took up yoga.