How to Conjugate "Chasser" (to Hunt)

Learn These Simple Conjugations to Say "Hunted" Or "Hunting" in French

Lion hunting a Zebra
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When you want to say "to hunt" or "to chase" in French, use the verb chasser. This is pretty straightforward because it looks and sounds a lot like the English "chase." You will find that conjugating chasser is relatively easy as well.

Conjugating the French Verb Chasser

Chasser is a regular -ER verb and that means we can use the most common verb conjugation pattern. If you learn how to transform this word to the appropriate tense, it makes similar words like cesser (to stop) and brûler (to burn) a little easier to learn.

Conjugating is as simple as recognizing the stem -- in this case, chass -- and adding the appropriate ending. For the je (I) present tense, it's as simple as an -e and for the future je, it will be -erai.

Unlike English, French requires you to match the subject pronoun with the tense. In English, "hunting" applies no matter if you're talking about I, you, or we, but in French, each subject requires a different ending. The chart will help you learn these forms: "I hunt" is "je chasse" and "we will hunt" is "nous chasserons."

Subject Present Future Imperfect
je chasse chasserai chassais
tu chasses chasseras chassais
il chasse chassera chassait
nous chassons chasserons chassions
vous chassez chasserez chassiez
ils chassent chasseront chassaient

The Present Participle of Chasser

Using the stem of chasser, add the ending -ant and you have the present participle chassant. This is a verb but can be used as an adjective, gerund, or noun as well.

The Passé Composé and Past Participle

A common way to express the past tense in French is the passé composé. To use this, conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to match the subject, then add the past participle chassé.

For example, "I chased" is "j'ai chassé" and "we hunted" is "nous avons chassé."

More Chasser Conjugations to Know

In less frequent instances, you may find a use for the following conjugations. The subjunctive and conditional are used when there is uncertainty to the verb and these are used quite often. In contrast, the passé simple and imperfect subjunctive are rare and found primarily in literature. In the least, you should be able to recognize each of these.

Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
je chasse chasserais chassai chassasse
tu chasses chasserais chassas chassasses
il chasse chasserait chassa chassât
nous chassions chasserions chassâmes chassassions
vous chassiez chasseriez chassâtes chassassiez
ils chassent chasseraient chassèrent chassassent

To use chasser in an exclamation and quickly request or demand something be hunted, use the imperative. When doing so, it's perfectly acceptable to skip the subject pronoun and say only the verb: "chasse" rather than "tu chasse."

(tu) chasse
(nous) chassons
(vous) chassez