Mettre Conjugation: All Tenses of the French Verb “mettre”
Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed August 2026
Mettre means “to put,” and it stretches much further than that: putting clothes on, setting the table, starting something, and saying how long a journey takes all run through this one verb.
Mettre is one of those French verbs that quietly does the work of a dozen English ones. You put an object somewhere (mettre les clés sur la table), you put clothes on (mettre un manteau), you set the table (mettre la table), you spend time on a trip (je mets une heure), and with a reflexive pronoun you start doing something (se mettre à travailler). It is also the model for a whole family: permettre, promettre, remettre and admettre all conjugate exactly like it, so this table pays for itself several times over.
The present tense loses one of the two t's in the singular and gets it back in the plural: je mets, tu mets, il met, then nous mettons, vous mettez, ils mettent. The three singular forms are pronounced identically, so the only thing you have to remember in speech is that there is no t sound; in writing, je and tu take an s and il does not. The future and conditional are built on the infinitive minus its final e, which leaves a double t next to the r: je mettrai, je mettrais. The past participle is mis, not a form ending in -u, and the passé simple is je mis, il mit.
Mettre in context
Présent
Je mets toujours mes clés dans la même poche. I always put my keys in the same pocket.
Imparfait
Avant le nouveau tramway, on mettait une heure pour aller au bureau. Before the new tram, it took an hour to get to the office.
Passé composé
Tu as mis la table pour combien de personnes ? How many people did you set the table for?
Futur simple
Nous mettrons les valises dans le coffre demain matin. We'll put the suitcases in the boot tomorrow morning.
Subjonctif présent
Il faut qu'elle mette son manteau, il gèle dehors. She needs to put her coat on, it's freezing outside.
Common mistakes with mettre
Inventing a regular past participle
✗ J'ai mettu mon sac dans le train.
✓ J'ai mis mon sac dans le train. — I left my bag on the train.
Mettre has no -u participle. It is mis, which also gives promis, permis and remis for the verbs built on it. The feminine is mise, so you write la lettre que j'ai mise à la poste.
Dropping the -s in je mets and tu mets
✗ Je met mon manteau.
✓ Je mets mon manteau. — I'm putting my coat on.
Only il, elle and on take the bare form met. Je and tu both end in -s, even though all three are pronounced the same. The silence of the ending is exactly why this slips through when you write what you hear.
Using mettre for clothes you are already wearing
✗ Aujourd'hui je mets une robe bleue.
✓ Aujourd'hui je porte une robe bleue. — I'm wearing a blue dress today.
Mettre is the moment of putting something on; porter is the state of having it on. English “I'm wearing” covers only the second. Je mets une robe means you are getting dressed right now, which is not usually what you meant to announce.
Expressions with mettre
mettre la table
to set the table
se mettre à faire quelque chose
to start doing something
mettre du temps à faire quelque chose
to take a while to do something
mettre au point
to finalise, to fine-tune
mettre de côté
to set aside, to put money by
s'y mettre
to get down to it
Frequently asked questions
Is mettre irregular?
Yes, it is a third-group verb. The singular present drops a t (je mets, il met) while the plural keeps both (nous mettons), the future doubles the t before the r (je mettrai), and the past participle is mis. The upside is that permettre, promettre, remettre, admettre and soumettre all follow the same pattern.
What is the past participle of mettre?
Mis. The passé composé is j'ai mis, and it agrees like any participle when a direct object comes before it: les affaires que j'ai mises dans le carton. Forms like mettu or mettré do not exist, however regular they look.
What is the difference between mettre and porter?
Mettre describes the action of putting a piece of clothing on; porter describes wearing it. Ce matin j'ai mis un pull means you pulled it on this morning, while je porte un pull means you have one on now. For taking clothes off, the verb is enlever or retirer.
What does se mettre à mean?
It means to start or take up doing something, and it is followed by an infinitive or a noun: il s'est mis à pleuvoir, elle se met au piano. Because it is reflexive it takes être in compound tenses, with agreement: nous nous sommes mis au travail.
How do you pronounce je mets, tu mets and il met?
All three sound identical, roughly like the English word “may” cut short — the final s and t are silent. You only hear the t in the plural, in nous mettons, vous mettez and ils mettent. In the participle mis, the s is silent too.