Regarder Conjugation in French
regarder means “to look at” in English, and it is one of the first verbs French learners meet — it sits at number 29 in VerbFlow’s frequency list for French verbs. You use it whenever you talk about looking at a film this evening, and 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 regarder — 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: “Je regarde un film ce soir tous les jours.” — “I look at a film this evening every day.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: regarder
- English: to look at
- Verb type: Regular
- Irregular in: none — regular in every tense
- Gerund: regardant
- Past participle: regardé
- Auxiliary: avoir (all perfect tenses are formed with avoir + the past participle)
- Ending: -er verbs; pattern er in the verified tables
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for regarder, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one. Learn the spelling of the forms first, and listen to a native speaker for the sounds rather than trusting an invented transcription. The forms below are the ones that matter: once you can read regarder in every tense, you can recognise it in speech even before you can pronounce every form perfectly.
Three things to remember about regarder
- It is regular: every form follows the ordinary -er pattern, so once you know the stem you can build the whole table. The only work is learning the endings, not memorising exceptions.
- The perfect tenses use avoir: the present perfect is formed with avoir in the present plus the past participle regardé. The tables on this page give the participle in the masculine singular form, exactly as it appears in the verified dump; agreement with the subject is a separate step that depends on the sentence, not on the verb table.
- The gerund is regardant and the participle is regardé: keep both in mind as you read the tables, because the gerund appears in progressive constructions and the participle appears in every perfect tense. If you know those two forms and the present tense, you already know the skeleton of the whole conjugation.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for regarder. 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 | regarde |
| tu | regardes |
| il/elle | regarde |
| nous | regardons |
| vous | regardez |
| ils/elles | regardent |
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Je regarde la télévision le soir tous les jours.” — “I look at television in the evening every day.”
Passé simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | regardai |
| tu | regardas |
| il/elle | regarda |
| nous | regardâmes |
| vous | regardâtes |
| ils/elles | regardèrent |
The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mostly in written and literary French. For example: “Tu regardas la télévision le soir hier.” — “You looked at television in the evening yesterday.”
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | regardais |
| tu | regardais |
| il/elle | regardait |
| nous | regardions |
| vous | regardiez |
| ils/elles | regardaient |
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and for background description. For example: “Il regardait la télévision le soir autrefois.” — “He used to look at television in the evening in the past.”
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | regarderai |
| tu | regarderas |
| il/elle | regardera |
| nous | regarderons |
| vous | regarderez |
| ils/elles | regarderont |
The future is used for what will happen, for predictions and for probability. For example: “Je regarderai la télévision le soir demain.” — “I will look at television in the evening tomorrow.”
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | regarderais |
| tu | regarderais |
| il/elle | regarderait |
| nous | regarderions |
| vous | regarderiez |
| ils/elles | regarderaient |
The conditional is used for what would happen, for polite requests and for hypothetical situations. For example: “Tu regarderais la télévision le soir un jour.” — “You would look at television in the evening one day.”
Present perfect (passé composé)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | ai regardé |
| tu | as regardé |
| il/elle | a regardé |
| nous | avons regardé |
| vous | avez regardé |
| ils/elles | ont regardé |
The present perfect (passé composé) is used for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken French. For example: “Il a regardé la télévision le soir cette semaine.” — “He has looked at television in the evening this week.”
Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | avais regardé |
| tu | avais regardé |
| il/elle | avait regardé |
| nous | avions regardé |
| vous | aviez regardé |
| ils/elles | avaient regardé |
The pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “J'avais regardé la télévision le soir avant la fête.” — “I had looked at television in the evening before the party.”
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | aurai regardé |
| tu | auras regardé |
| il/elle | aura regardé |
| nous | aurons regardé |
| vous | aurez regardé |
| ils/elles | auront regardé |
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Tu auras regardé la télévision le soir pour demain.” — “You will have looked at television in the evening by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | aurais regardé |
| tu | aurais regardé |
| il/elle | aurait regardé |
| nous | aurions regardé |
| vous | auriez regardé |
| ils/elles | auraient regardé |
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Il aurait regardé la télévision le soir hier.” — “He would have looked at television in the evening yesterday.”
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | regarde |
| tu | regardes |
| il/elle | regarde |
| nous | regardions |
| vous | regardiez |
| ils/elles | regardent |
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Il est important que je regarde la télévision le soir.” — “It is important that I look at television in the evening.”
Imperfect subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | regardasse |
| tu | regardasses |
| il/elle | regardât |
| nous | regardassions |
| vous | regardassiez |
| ils/elles | regardassent |
The imperfect subjunctive is used in formal written French for past wishes and hypotheticals after que. For example: “Il est important que tu regardasses la télévision le soir.” — “It is important that you look at television in the evening.”
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | regarde |
| nous | regardons |
| vous | regardez |
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “Regarde la télévision le soir !” — “Look at television in the evening!”
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | regarde |
| nous | regardons |
| vous | regardez |
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Ne regarde pas la télévision le soir.” — “Do not look at television in the evening.”
Gerund
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Gerund | en regardant |
The gerund is used for an action happening at the same time as another action, usually after en. For example: “En regardant un film ce soir, je passe un bon moment.” — “While looking at a film this evening, I have a good time.”
Past participle
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Past participle | regardé |
The past participle is used with an auxiliary to form the perfect tenses, and as an adjective. For example: “J'ai regardé un film ce soir cette semaine.” — “I have looked at a film this evening this week.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with regarder, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.
- “Je regarde un film ce soir tous les jours.” — “I look at a film this evening every day.”
- “Tu regardas la télévision le soir hier.” — “You looked at television in the evening yesterday.”
- “Il regardait par la fenêtre tous les matins autrefois.” — “He used to look at out of the window every morning in the past.”
- “Je regarderai un film ce soir demain.” — “I will look at a film this evening tomorrow.”
- “Tu regarderais la télévision le soir un jour.” — “You would look at television in the evening one day.”
- “Il a regardé par la fenêtre tous les matins cette semaine.” — “He has looked at out of the window every morning this week.”
- “J'avais regardé un film ce soir avant la fête.” — “I had looked at a film this evening before the party.”
- “Tu auras regardé la télévision le soir pour demain.” — “You will have looked at television in the evening by tomorrow.”
- “Il est important que il regarde par la fenêtre tous les matins.” — “It is important that he look at out of the window every morning.”
- “Regarde un film ce soir !” — “Look at a film this evening!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Je regarder un film ce soir.”
✓ Right: “Je regarde un film ce soir.”
The infinitive regarder never takes a subject. After je you need the conjugated present form regarde.
2. Using the wrong person’s form
✗ Wrong: “Je regardent un film ce soir.”
✓ Right: “Je regarde un film ce soir.”
regardent is the ils/elles form, not the je form. Match the verb to the subject every time: je goes with regarde.
3. Using the passé simple for a present habit
✗ Wrong: “Je regardai un film ce soir tous les jours.”
✓ Right: “Je regarde un film ce soir tous les jours.”
The passé simple regardai describes one finished past action. For something that happens every day, use the present regarde.
4. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Il est important que je regarde un film ce soir.”
✓ Right: “Il est important que je regarde un film ce soir.”
After il est important que French needs the subjunctive, so use regarde here, not the indicative regarde.
5. Using the wrong auxiliary in the passé composé
✗ Wrong: “Je suis regardé un film ce soir.”
✓ Right: “Je ai regardé un film ce soir.”
The passé composé of regarder is formed with avoir plus the past participle regardé: the je form is ai regardé. Check the auxiliary in the table above before you build a perfect tense.
6. Dropping a written accent
✗ Wrong: “regarde” written without its accent
✓ Right: “regarde”
Accents are part of the spelling in French. Write the form exactly as it appears in the table, accent included, or it looks like a different word.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on regarder. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the je form of regarder in the Present indicative?
- A) regardons
- B) regardez
- C) regarde
- D) regardes
What is the il/elle form of regarder in the Passé simple?
- A) regardas
- B) regardâmes
- C) regarda
- D) regardai
What is the nous form of regarder in the Imperfect?
- A) regardait
- B) regardiez
- C) regardions
- D) regardais
What is the tu form of regarder in the Future?
- A) regarderas
- B) regarderai
- C) regardera
- D) regarderons
What is the je form of regarder in the Conditional?
- A) regarderait
- B) regarderions
- C) regarderiez
- D) regarderais
What is the il/elle form of regarder in the Present perfect (passé composé)?
- A) avons regardé
- B) a regardé
- C) ai regardé
- D) as regardé
What is the il/elle form of regarder in the Present subjunctive?
- A) regardions
- B) regardiez
- C) regarde
- D) regardes
What is the je form of regarder in the Imperfect subjunctive?
- A) regardasses
- B) regardât
- C) regardassions
- D) regardasse
What is the gerund of regarder?
- A) en travaillant
- B) en regardant
- C) en cherchant
- D) en répondant
What does regarder mean in English?
- A) to look for
- B) to answer
- C) to work
- D) to look at
Answer key
- C) regarde — the je form of regarder in the Present indicative is regarde. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) regarda — the il/elle form of regarder in the Passé simple is regarda. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) regardions — the nous form of regarder in the Imperfect is regardions. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- A) regarderas — the tu form of regarder in the Future is regarderas. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- D) regarderais — the je form of regarder in the Conditional is regarderais. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- B) a regardé — the il/elle form of regarder in the Present perfect (passé composé) is a regardé. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) regarde — the il/elle form of regarder in the Present subjunctive is regarde. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- D) regardasse — the je form of regarder in the Imperfect subjunctive is regardasse. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- B) en regardant — the gerund of regarder is en regardant; it is used after en for actions happening at the same time as another action. The other options are the gerunds of neighbouring verbs.
- D) to look at — regarder means “to look at” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.
Frequently asked questions
What does regarder mean in English?
regarder means “to look at”. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is regarder regular or irregular?
regarder is regular: it follows the ordinary -er pattern in every tense. The gerund is regardant and the past participle is regardé.
What are the gerund and past participle of regarder?
The gerund is regardant — use it after en for an action happening at the same time as another action. The past participle is regardé — use it with avoir for the perfect tenses, as in ai regardé.
Which auxiliary does regarder take in the passé composé?
regarder takes avoir in the passé composé: the je form is ai regardé. All four perfect tenses on this page are built with avoir plus the past participle regardé.
How do I say “I look at” in French?
Say “Je regarde un film ce soir tous les jours.” — “I look at a film this evening every day.” The je form of the present is regarde, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- Full conjugation of regarder — every tense of regarder in one place.
- Regarder in the present tense — the full table and usage rules for one tense.
- Regarder examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Chercher conjugation — another everyday French verb.
- Répondre conjugation — another everyday French verb.
- Travailler conjugation — another everyday French verb.
- French verbs — the full hub of French conjugation pages.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- VerbFlow home — all languages, tools and verb lists.
- Spanish Verb Conjugator — practise regarder with the interactive tool.
- Conjugation Chart Printer — practise regarder with the interactive tool.
- Tense Finder — practise regarder with the interactive tool.