Emporter Conjugation in French

emporter means “take away” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early — it sits in VerbFlow’s frequency list for French. You use it for packing for a trip, for taking food away, and for leaving the house prepared. Because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. This page gives you the complete conjugation of emporter — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “J'emporte un parapluie.” — “I take away an umbrella.”

Quick facts

  • Infinitive: emporter
  • English: take away
  • Verb type: Regular
  • Irregular in: none — it is regular in every tense
  • Gerund: en emportant
  • Past participle: emporté
  • Auxiliary: avoir (all perfect tenses are formed with avoir + the past participle)

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for emporter, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

Full conjugation tables

Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for emporter. Learn the present tense first, then the passé composé and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.

Present indicative

Person Form
je emporte
tu emportes
il/elle emporte
nous emportons
vous emportez
ils/elles emportent

Passé simple

Person Form
je emportai
tu emportas
il/elle emporta
nous emportâmes
vous emportâtes
ils/elles emportèrent

Imperfect

Person Form
je emportais
tu emportais
il/elle emportait
nous emportions
vous emportiez
ils/elles emportaient

Future

Person Form
je emporterai
tu emporteras
il/elle emportera
nous emporterons
vous emporterez
ils/elles emporteront

Conditional

Person Form
je emporterais
tu emporterais
il/elle emporterait
nous emporterions
vous emporteriez
ils/elles emporteraient

Present subjunctive

Person Form
je emporte
tu emportes
il/elle emporte
nous emportions
vous emportiez
ils/elles emportent

Imperfect subjunctive

Person Form
je emportasse
tu emportasses
il/elle emportât
nous emportassions
vous emportassiez
ils/elles emportassent

Present perfect

Person Form
je ai emporté
tu as emporté
il/elle a emporté
nous avons emporté
vous avez emporté
ils/elles ont emporté

Pluperfect (past perfect)

Person Form
je avais emporté
tu avais emporté
il/elle avait emporté
nous avions emporté
vous aviez emporté
ils/elles avaient emporté

Future perfect

Person Form
je aurai emporté
tu auras emporté
il/elle aura emporté
nous aurons emporté
vous aurez emporté
ils/elles auront emporté

Conditional perfect

Person Form
je aurais emporté
tu aurais emporté
il/elle aurait emporté
nous aurions emporté
vous auriez emporté
ils/elles auraient emporté

Imperative (affirmative)

Person Form
tu emporte
nous emportons
vous emportez

Imperative (negative)

Person Form
tu emporte
nous emportons
vous emportez

Gerund and past participle

Form French
Gerund en emportant
Past participle emporté

When to use each tense

Present indicative

The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “J'emporte un sandwich.” — “I take away a sandwich.”

Passé simple

The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. For example: “J'emportai un sandwich hier.” — “I took a sandwich yesterday.”

Imperfect

The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “J'emportais un sandwich avant.” — “I used to take away a sandwich before.”

Future

The future is used for what will happen, predictions and plans. For example: “J'emporterai un sandwich demain.” — “I will take away a sandwich tomorrow.”

Conditional

The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “J'emporterais un sandwich un jour.” — “I would take away a sandwich one day.”

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Bien que j'emporte un sandwich” — “Although I take away a sandwich.”

Imperfect subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive is used for the past subjunctive: wishes and hypotheticals about the past, in formal and literary French. For example: “Bien que j'emportasse un sandwich” — “Although I take away a sandwich.”

Present perfect

The present perfect is used for recent past actions and life experience; this is the everyday spoken past tense, the passé composé. For example: “J'ai emporté un sandwich cette semaine.” — “I have taken a sandwich this week.”

Pluperfect (past perfect)

The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “J'avais emporté un sandwich avant la fête.” — “I had taken a sandwich before the party.”

Future perfect

The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “J'aurai emporté un sandwich pour demain.” — “I will have taken a sandwich by tomorrow.”

Conditional perfect

The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “J'aurais emporté un sandwich hier.” — “I would have taken a sandwich yesterday.”

Imperative (affirmative)

The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “emporte un sandwich !” — “Take away a sandwich!”

Imperative (negative)

The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Ne emporte pas un sandwich !” — “Don't take away a sandwich!”

Gerund and past participle

The gerund en emportant is used after en for an action in progress, and the past participle emporté builds the perfect tenses with avoir. For example: “J'ai emporté de l'eau cette semaine.” — “I have taken some water this week.”

Example sentences

Ten natural sentences with emporter, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.

  1. “J'emporte un parapluie.” — “I take away an umbrella.”
  2. “Tu emportas un sandwich hier.” — “You took a sandwich yesterday.”
  3. “Il emportait de l'eau avant.” — “He used to take away some water before.”
  4. “J'emporterai mon sac demain.” — “I will take away my bag tomorrow.”
  5. “Tu emporterais un parapluie un jour.” — “You would take away an umbrella one day.”
  6. “Il a emporté un sandwich cette semaine.” — “He has taken a sandwich this week.”
  7. “J'avais emporté de l'eau avant la fête.” — “I had taken some water before the party.”
  8. “Tu auras emporté mon sac pour demain.” — “You will have taken my bag by tomorrow.”
  9. “Bien que il emporte un parapluie” — “Although he takes away an umbrella.”
  10. “emporte un sandwich !” — “Take away a sandwich!”

Common mistakes

1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

✗ Wrong: “Je emporter un parapluie.”

✓ Right: “Je emporte un parapluie.”

The infinitive emporter never takes a subject. After je you need the conjugated present form emporte.

2. Using the wrong person

✗ Wrong: “Je emportons un sandwich.”

✓ Right: “Je emporte un sandwich.”

emportons is the nous form. With je the present form is emporte — check the person in the table before you speak.

3. Using the present for a finished past action

✗ Wrong: “Hier, je emporte un parapluie.”

✓ Right: “Hier, j'ai emporté un parapluie.”

The present emporte describes now. For something finished yesterday, use the passé composé ai emporté.

4. Using the passé simple in everyday speech

✗ Wrong: “Hier, je emportai de l'eau.” (in casual conversation)

✓ Right: “Hier, j'ai emporté de l'eau.”

The passé simple emportai belongs in novels and formal writing. In everyday speech, say the passé composé ai emporté.

5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger

✗ Wrong: “Bien que je emporte un parapluie.”

✓ Right: “Bien que je emporte un parapluie.”

After bien que French needs the subjunctive, so use emporte here, not the indicative emporte.

6. Using the imperfect for a single finished action

✗ Wrong: “Je emportais mon sac avant.” (said of one finished moment)

✓ Right: “J'ai emporté mon sac avant.”

The imperfect emportais describes something ongoing or repeated in the past. For one finished action, use the passé composé ai emporté.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on emporter. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. What is the je form of emporter in the Present indicative?

    • A) emportons
    • B) emporte
    • C) emportez
    • D) emportent

  2. What is the il/elle form of emporter in the Passé simple?

    • A) emportas
    • B) emportèrent
    • C) emportai
    • D) emporta

  3. What is the nous form of emporter in the Imperfect?

    • A) emportaient
    • B) emportions
    • C) emportais
    • D) emportiez

  4. What is the tu form of emporter in the Future?

    • A) emporteras
    • B) emporterez
    • C) emporteront
    • D) emporterons

  5. What is the je form of emporter in the Conditional?

    • A) emporterait
    • B) emporteraient
    • C) emporterais
    • D) emporterions

  6. What is the il/elle form of emporter in the Present subjunctive?

    • A) emportions
    • B) emportent
    • C) emporte
    • D) emportiez

  7. What is the je form of emporter in the Imperfect subjunctive?

    • A) emportassiez
    • B) emportassions
    • C) emportassent
    • D) emportasse

  8. What is the gerund of emporter?

    • A) emportant
    • B) buvant
    • C) dormant

  9. What is the past participle of emporter?

    • A) bu
    • B) emporté
    • C) dormi

  10. What does emporter mean in English?

  • A) take away
  • B) sleep
  • C) drink
  • D) open

Answer key

  1. B) emporte — The je form of emporter in the present indicative is emporte.
  2. D) emporta — The il/elle form of emporter in the passé simple is emporta.
  3. B) emportions — The nous form of emporter in the imperfect is emportions.
  4. A) emporteras — The tu form of emporter in the future is emporteras.
  5. C) emporterais — The je form of emporter in the conditional is emporterais.
  6. C) emporte — The il/elle form of emporter in the present subjunctive is emporte.
  7. D) emportasse — The je form of emporter in the imperfect subjunctive is emportasse.
  8. A) emportant — The gerund of emporter is en emportant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
  9. B) emporté — The past participle of emporter is emporté; perfect tenses use avoir + emporté.
  10. A) take away — emporter means “take away” in English.

Frequently asked questions

What does emporter mean in English?

emporter means “take away”. You use it for packing for a trip, for taking food away, and for leaving the house prepared. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.

Is emporter regular or irregular?

emporter is regular, and it is irregular in these tenses: none — it is regular in every tense. The gerund is en emportant and the past participle is emporté.

What are the gerund and past participle of emporter?

The gerund is en emportant — use it after en for actions in progress. The past participle is emporté — use it with avoir for the perfect tenses, as in ai emporté.

How do I say “I take away” in French?

Say “J'emporte un parapluie.” — “I take away an umbrella.” The je form of the present is emporte, and it is the form you will use most often.

What is the difference between emporter and apporter?

emporter means “take away” while apporter means “bring (something)” — they describe different actions, so they are not interchangeable. Compare the full table for apporter and check the meaning in context before you choose.

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