Jouer Conjugation: All Tenses of the French Verb “jouer”
Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed August 2026
Jouer means “to play.” The conjugation is completely regular, so the real lesson on this page is the preposition: jouer à for games and sports, jouer de for musical instruments.
Jouer is an A1 verb you will keep using at every level, because French leans on it for games, sport, music, acting and gambling. The endings hold no surprises. What does cause trouble is the little word that comes next, since English says “play tennis” and “play the piano” with nothing in between, while French insists on à in the first case and de in the second. Get that split right and you sound noticeably more fluent for very little work.
Jouer is a regular first-group verb, and the only thing worth watching is that its stem ends in a vowel, which stacks vowels up in the spelling. The present is je joue, nous jouons, vous jouez, ils jouent, where joue and jouent are pronounced identically. The imparfait and the subjunctive give nous jouions and vous jouiez, with an i you can hear but might forget to write. The future and conditional keep the silent e of the infinitive: je jouerai, je jouerais, both pronounced as though the e were not there. The past participle is joué.
Jouer in context
Présent
Mon fils joue au foot tous les samedis matin. My son plays football every Saturday morning.
Imparfait
À l'internat, nous jouions aux cartes pendant la pause. At boarding school we used to play cards during the break.
Passé composé
Les enfants ont joué dehors tout l'après-midi. The children played outside all afternoon.
Futur simple
Tu joueras du piano à la fête de l'école ? Are you going to play the piano at the school concert?
Subjonctif présent
Il faut que vous jouiez ce passage plus lentement. You need to play this passage more slowly.
Common mistakes with jouer
Using no preposition before an instrument
✗ Je joue le piano depuis cinq ans.
✓ Je joue du piano depuis cinq ans. — I've been playing the piano for five years.
Instruments take de, contracted with the article: jouer du piano, de la guitare, de la batterie, des percussions. Je joue le piano is not just unidiomatic, it suggests you are performing a piece called Le Piano.
Using de for a sport or a game
✗ Elle joue du tennis le week-end.
✓ Elle joue au tennis le week-end. — She plays tennis at the weekend.
Games and sports take à, contracted the same way: jouer au tennis, au foot, aux échecs, à la pétanque, aux cartes. The rule is worth memorising as a pair with de, because the two are only ever confused with each other.
Dropping the silent e in the future
✗ Je jourai de la guitare ce soir.
✓ Je jouerai de la guitare ce soir. — I'll play guitar tonight.
The future is the full infinitive plus the ending, so jouer + ai gives jouerai even though the e is not pronounced. Verbs whose stem ends in a vowel, like jouer, louer and créer, are where this letter most often goes missing.
Expressions with jouer
jouer un rôle
to play a part
jouer le jeu
to play along, to play fair
jouer avec le feu
to play with fire
jouer cartes sur table
to put one's cards on the table
jouer des coudes
to elbow your way through
Frequently asked questions
Is jouer a regular verb?
Yes, it is a fully regular first-group -er verb with no stem changes at all. Every form is the stem jou- plus the standard ending, and the past participle is joué. The only spelling points are the silent e in the future (je jouerai) and the i in nous jouions and vous jouiez.
Do you say jouer à or jouer de?
Both, depending on what you play. Use à for games and sports: jouer au football, jouer aux échecs, jouer à un jeu vidéo. Use de for musical instruments: jouer du violon, jouer de la flûte. Remember that à and de contract with the article, which is where au, aux, du and des come from.
When does jouer take no preposition at all?
When the object is the thing performed rather than the activity: jouer une sonate, jouer Hamlet, jouer un rôle important. In sport you also drop it before a match or an opponent, as in la France joue l'Italie ce soir. Actors and musicians use this construction constantly.
Does jouer take avoir or être?
Avoir: j'ai joué, nous avons joué. Jouer is not on the être list, and it takes avoir whether it has a direct object or a preposition after it. The one reflexive use, se jouer de quelqu'un (to make a fool of someone), takes être like all reflexives.
How do you pronounce nous jouons and ils jouent?
Nous jouons is two syllables, roughly zhoo-ON, with the nasal at the end. Ils jouent is one syllable and sounds exactly like je joue and tu joues, because the -ent ending of the third person plural is silent. Je jouerai also loses its e in speech, so it sounds like zhoo-RAY.