French grammar · Beginner
Sortir: Conjugation and Uses of the French Verb
Sortir means to go out, and by extension to come out, to be released, and — with a direct object — to take out. It drops the final consonant of its stem in the singular, giving je sors but nous sortons, and it switches between être and avoir in compound tenses depending on whether anything follows it.
Je sors avec des amis ce soir.
I'm going out with friends tonight.
What it is
Sortir is a high-frequency verb with one irregularity and one complication. The irregularity is in the present, where the singular forms lose the t of the stem. The complication is the auxiliary: on its own sortir is a verb of motion and takes être, but give it a direct object and it becomes transitive, takes avoir, and means to take something out.
Elle est sortie sans manteau. — She went out without a coat.
How to spot it
One consonant in the singular present, two in the plural: je sors, tu sors, il sort, nous sortons, vous sortez, ils sortent.
- Je sors du travail à six heures. — I finish work at six.
- Nous sortons rarement en semaine. — We rarely go out during the week.
- Il a sorti les poubelles. — He took the bins out.
- Le film sort la semaine prochaine. — The film comes out next week.
Sortir, partir, dormir, servir and mentir all behave alike: the singular sheds the last letter of the stem, the plural keeps it.
Sortir Quick Reference
Sortir at a glance
| Tense | Form | In use |
|---|---|---|
| présent | je sors | Je sors ce soir. — I'm going out tonight. |
| imparfait | je sortais | Je sortais souvent. — I used to go out a lot. |
| passé composé | je suis sorti(e) | Je suis sorti tôt. — I left early. |
| passé composé, transitive | j'ai sorti | J'ai sorti la voiture. — I got the car out. |
| futur | je sortirai | Je sortirai demain. — I'll go out tomorrow. |
| conditionnel | je sortirais | Je sortirais bien. — I'd quite like to go out. |
| subjonctif | que je sorte | Il faut que je sorte. — I have to go out. |
| impératif | sors, sortons, sortez | Sors d'ici ! — Get out of here! |
Common Sortir Examples in French
The four things sortir is used for:
Going Out and Leaving
- On sort dîner ce soir ?
- Shall we go out for dinner tonight?
- Elle est sortie il y a dix minutes.
- She left ten minutes ago.
- Sortez par la porte de derrière.
- Leave by the back door.
- Je sors du bureau à dix-huit heures.
- I leave the office at six.
Sortir de plus a place means to come out of it. With no de and no object, it simply means going out for the evening.
Taking Something Out
- Il a sorti son portefeuille.
- He took out his wallet.
- Sors les assiettes, s'il te plaît.
- Get the plates out, please.
- Elle a sorti le gâteau du four.
- She took the cake out of the oven.
- J'ai sorti le chien deux fois.
- I took the dog out twice.
Given a direct object, sortir takes avoir and means to take out. French has no separate verb for this.
Coming Out and Being Released
- Son roman sort en mars.
- Her novel comes out in March.
- Le nouveau modèle est sorti hier.
- The new model came out yesterday.
- De la fumée sortait de la cuisine.
- Smoke was coming out of the kitchen.
- D'où sort cette rumeur ?
- Where has that rumour come from?
For films, books and products, sortir is the ordinary word for being released, and it stays intransitive with être.
Sortir Avec and S'en Sortir
- Elle sort avec un collègue.
- She's going out with a colleague.
- Ils sortent ensemble depuis un an.
- They've been together for a year.
- Je m'en sors, merci.
- I'm managing, thanks.
- Il s'en est bien sorti.
- He came out of it well.
Sortir avec is the standard way of saying to be dating someone. S'en sortir means to cope or to pull through, and you hear it constantly.
How Sortir Works
Five points: two about the forms, three about the sentence around them.
The Singular Drops the T
Sors, sors, sort in the singular; sortons, sortez, sortent in the plural. Only the present indicative and the tu imperative are affected.
Il sort tous les samedis.
He goes out every Saturday.
je sors, nous sortons.
Être with Nothing After It, Avoir with an Object
This is the one thing that trips people up. A prepositional phrase does not count as an object, so sortir avec des amis still takes être.
Elle est sortie, puis elle a sorti son parapluie.
She went out, then took out her umbrella.
No object, être; object, avoir.
With Être the Participle Agrees
Sorti, sortie, sortis, sorties, matching the subject. With avoir there is no agreement unless a direct object comes before the verb.
Les filles sont sorties ensemble.
The girls went out together.
Agree with the subject after être.
Sortir De for the Place You Leave
De marks what you are emerging from, whether a building, a meeting, or an appointment. Je sors de can also mean I have just come from.
Je sors de chez le dentiste.
I've just come from the dentist.
sortir de plus a place.
Everything Else Is Regular
The imperfect, future, conditional and subjunctive are all built predictably. Only the present has to be learnt as a shape.
Nous sortirons vers huit heures.
We'll go out around eight.
sortir- for future and conditional.
Common Mistakes with Sortir
Incorrect: J'ai sorti hier soir avec des amis. — I went out last night with friends.
Correct: Je suis sorti hier soir avec des amis. — I went out last night with friends.
With no direct object, sortir takes être. Avec des amis is a prepositional phrase, not an object, so it does not switch the auxiliary.
Incorrect: Elle est sortie les poubelles. — She took the bins out.
Correct: Elle a sorti les poubelles. — She took the bins out.
Les poubelles is a direct object, which makes the verb transitive and the auxiliary avoir. The participle then stays sorti with no agreement at all.
Incorrect: Je sorte à huit heures. — I leave at eight.
Correct: Je sors à huit heures. — I leave at eight.
Sorte is the subjunctive. The present indicative singular is sors, sors, sort — no e anywhere, and no t on the first two persons.
Incorrect: Elle s'en est sorti sans problème. — She got through it without any trouble.
Correct: Elle s'en est sortie sans problème. — She got through it without any trouble.
S'en sortir is pronominal, so the participle agrees with the subject. The en sitting between the pronoun and the auxiliary makes the agreement easy to overlook.
Sortir Across the Tenses
The simple tenses, then the two compound paradigms side by side, then the remaining moods.
The simple tenses
The present is the only irregular column. The imperfect and future are built on sort- and sortir- with the usual endings.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | je sors | je sortais | je sortirai |
| tu | tu sors | tu sortais | tu sortiras |
| il / elle / on | il sort | il sortait | il sortira |
| nous | nous sortons | nous sortions | nous sortirons |
| vous | vous sortez | vous sortiez | vous sortirez |
| ils / elles | ils sortent | ils sortaient | ils sortiront |
Je sors and il sort sound identical, so in speech only the pronoun separates them.
The passé composé, both auxiliaries
The left column is sortir as a verb of motion. The right column is sortir with a direct object, meaning to take out.
| Pronoun | with être | with avoir |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | je suis sorti(e) | j'ai sorti |
| tu | tu es sorti(e) | tu as sorti |
| il / elle / on | il est sorti, elle est sortie | il a sorti |
| nous | nous sommes sorti(e)s | nous avons sorti |
| vous | vous êtes sorti(e)(s) | vous avez sorti |
| ils / elles | ils sont sortis, elles sont sorties | ils ont sorti |
The left column agrees with the subject. The right column agrees with nothing, unless the object has moved in front of the verb, as in les clés que j'ai sorties.
Conditional, subjunctive and imperative
The subjunctive is built on the ils stem, so que je sorte and ils sortent share the same consonants.
| Pronoun | conditionnel | subjonctif | impératif |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | je sortirais | que je sorte | — |
| tu | tu sortirais | que tu sortes | sors |
| il / elle / on | il sortirait | qu'il sorte | — |
| nous | nous sortirions | que nous sortions | sortons |
| vous | vous sortiriez | que vous sortiez | sortez |
| ils / elles | ils sortiraient | qu'ils sortent | — |
The tu imperative is sors, with the s of the indicative kept — unlike -er verbs, which lose theirs.
Avoir or Être, and the Idioms
The auxiliary switch, the pronominal form, and the fixed expressions.
The auxiliary depends on the object
Used alone, sortir describes motion and takes être. Given a direct object it becomes transitive, takes avoir, and means to take something out.
- Elle est sortie vers midi.
- She went out around noon.
- Elle a sorti les clés de son sac.
- She took the keys out of her bag.
- Nous sommes sortis par la fenêtre.
- We got out through the window.
- Nous avons sorti le canapé du salon.
- We moved the sofa out of the living room.
Entrer, monter, descendre, passer, retourner and rentrer all behave this way, which makes it a pattern rather than a quirk of sortir.
S'en sortir
The pronominal s'en sortir means to manage, to cope, or to get through something, and it is among the most frequent expressions in spoken French.
- Tu t'en sors avec le nouveau logiciel ?
- Are you managing with the new software?
- Elle s'en est sortie sans une égratignure.
- She came out of it without a scratch.
- On s'en sortira.
- We'll manage.
The participle agrees with the subject, so elle s'en est sortie takes an e. The en is fixed and cannot be replaced by anything else.
Fixed expressions
Sortir carries a set of idioms whose sense has drifted a long way from going out.
- Ce détail sort de l'ordinaire.
- That detail is out of the ordinary.
- Il est sorti de ses gonds.
- He lost his temper.
- Ce projet sort du lot.
- This project stands out from the rest.
- Ça m'est sorti de la tête.
- It went straight out of my head.
Sortir de ses gonds is literally to come off its hinges, said of a door and, by transfer, of somebody losing their temper.
Sortir FAQs
- How do you conjugate sortir in French?
- In the present: je sors, tu sors, il sort, nous sortons, vous sortez, ils sortent. The imperfect is je sortais, the future je sortirai, the subjunctive que je sorte, and the past participle sorti.
- Does sortir take avoir or être?
- Both, depending on the sentence. With no direct object it takes être and means to go out: je suis sorti. With a direct object it takes avoir and means to take out: j'ai sorti la voiture. A phrase like avec des amis is not an object and does not change anything.
- What is the difference between sortir and partir?
- Sortir is about coming out of somewhere or going out socially; partir is about departing. Je sors du bureau means I'm leaving the office building, while je pars en vacances means I'm setting off on holiday. Only sortir can take a direct object.
- What does s'en sortir mean?
- To manage, cope, or pull through: je m'en sors means I'm getting by, and il s'en est bien sorti means he came out of it well. The en is fixed, and the participle agrees with the subject.
- How do you say to go out with someone in French?
- Sortir avec quelqu'un: elle sort avec un collègue means she's going out with a colleague. For a longer relationship, ils sortent ensemble depuis un an means they've been together a year.