Emprunter Conjugation: All Tenses of the French Verb “emprunter”
Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed August 2026
Emprunter means “to borrow.” The conjugation is completely regular; the difficulty is keeping it apart from prêter, which means to lend, and remembering that you borrow something à someone, not de someone.
Emprunter covers borrowing a book, borrowing money and borrowing your brother's bike. It also has a second life that surprises learners: you emprunter a road or an exit (emprunter l'autoroute, emprunter la sortie de secours), and languages emprunter words from each other, which is where un mot emprunté à l'anglais comes from. English speakers reverse it with prêter constantly, because “borrow” and “lend” are two verbs in English too and the pairing does not map cleanly onto who is speaking.
Emprunter is a regular first-group verb on the stem emprunt-, with no stem change anywhere: j'emprunte, tu empruntes, il emprunte, nous empruntons, vous empruntez, ils empruntent. The three singular forms and ils empruntent all sound the same, since -e, -es and -ent are silent endings. The future and conditional are built on the whole infinitive, giving j'emprunterai and j'emprunterais, where only the final syllable tells them apart. The subjunctive matches the present except for nous empruntions and vous empruntiez. The past participle is emprunté.
Emprunter in context
Présent
Elle emprunte deux ou trois romans à la bibliothèque chaque mois. She borrows two or three novels from the library every month.
Imparfait
Quand j'étais étudiant, j'empruntais le vélo de mon frère. When I was a student, I used to borrow my brother's bike.
Passé composé
Nous avons emprunté de l'argent pour acheter la maison. We borrowed money to buy the house.
Futur simple
Tu emprunteras l'escalier de secours, l'ascenseur est en panne. You'll have to take the fire stairs, the lift is out of order.
Subjonctif présent
Bien que vous empruntiez cette route tous les jours, faites attention au virage. Even though you take that road every day, watch out for the bend.
Common mistakes with emprunter
Swapping emprunter and prêter
✗ Est-ce que tu peux m'emprunter ton stylo ?
✓ Est-ce que tu peux me prêter ton stylo ? — Can you lend me your pen?
Emprunter is what the person receiving does; prêter is what the person handing it over does. Je t'emprunte ton stylo and tu me prêtes ton stylo both work, but tu m'empruntes ton stylo puts the borrowing on the wrong person and means the opposite of what you intended.
Marking the lender with de
✗ J'ai emprunté cent euros de mon frère.
✓ J'ai emprunté cent euros à mon frère. — I borrowed a hundred euros from my brother.
English “borrow from” makes de look right, but French uses à for the source with this verb: emprunter quelque chose à quelqu'un. The same à turns up with acheter and voler, where English also says “from.”
Using emprunter for something you pay for
✗ Nous avons emprunté une voiture à l'aéroport.
✓ Nous avons loué une voiture à l'aéroport. — We rented a car at the airport.
Emprunter implies you will give the thing back and that no money changed hands for the use of it. When you pay, the verb is louer, which covers both renting and hiring. For borrowing from a bank, emprunter is right, because there the money itself is the thing returned.
Expressions with emprunter
emprunter de l'argent à la banque
to borrow money from the bank
emprunter un livre à la bibliothèque
to borrow a book from the library
emprunter l'autoroute
to take the motorway
un mot emprunté à l'anglais
a word borrowed from English
d'un air emprunté
in a stiff, self-conscious way
Frequently asked questions
Is emprunter a regular verb?
Yes, it is a regular first-group -er verb with no stem change: j'emprunte, nous empruntons, past participle emprunté. Nothing in the table has to be memorised separately. The real work with this verb is its meaning and the preposition that follows it.
What is the difference between emprunter and prêter?
Emprunter is to borrow and prêter is to lend, so they describe the same transaction from opposite ends. J'emprunte un livre à Marie and Marie me prête un livre are the same event. English speakers mix them up because the roles reverse depending on who is speaking.
Which preposition goes after emprunter?
À for the person or place you borrow from: emprunter un stylo à un collègue, emprunter un livre à la bibliothèque. Do not use de, even though English says “from.” If you name only the thing, no preposition is needed at all: j'ai emprunté sa voiture.
Can emprunter mean anything other than “borrow”?
Yes. You emprunter a route or an exit, meaning you take it: emprunter la sortie 12, emprunter les transports en commun. Languages also borrow from each other, giving un mot emprunté à l'italien. And the participle used as an adjective, emprunté, describes someone who looks awkward or ill at ease.
How do you pronounce emprunter?
Three syllables, roughly ahn-prun-TAY, with two different nasal vowels: the em- is the nasal of en, and the -un- is the rounder nasal of un. The -ent of ils empruntent is silent, so that form sounds exactly like il emprunte.