Rentrer Conjugation in French
rentrer means “to return (home)” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early and use often. This page gives you the complete conjugation of rentrer — 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 rentre à la maison le soir.” — “I return home in the evening.” Learning the forms on this page first, before you try to use the verb in conversation, saves you from guessing later: French spelling and endings change with the person and the tense, and rentrer is no exception. Work through the tables one tense at a time, say each form aloud, and then test yourself with the quiz at the end.
Quick facts
- Infinitive: rentrer
- English: to return (home)
- Verb type: Regular -er verb
- Irregular in: — (regular in every tense)
- Gerund: en rentrant
- Past participle: rentré
- Auxiliary: être (all perfect tenses are formed with être + the past participle)
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for rentrer, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for rentrer. 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 | rentre |
| tu | rentres |
| il/elle | rentre |
| nous | rentrons |
| vous | rentrez |
| ils/elles | rentrent |
Passé simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | rentrai |
| tu | rentras |
| il/elle | rentra |
| nous | rentrâmes |
| vous | rentrâtes |
| ils/elles | rentrèrent |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | rentrais |
| tu | rentrais |
| il/elle | rentrait |
| nous | rentrions |
| vous | rentriez |
| ils/elles | rentraient |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | rentrerai |
| tu | rentreras |
| il/elle | rentrera |
| nous | rentrerons |
| vous | rentrerez |
| ils/elles | rentreront |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | rentrerais |
| tu | rentrerais |
| il/elle | rentrerait |
| nous | rentrerions |
| vous | rentreriez |
| ils/elles | rentreraient |
Present perfect (passé composé)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | suis rentré |
| tu | es rentré |
| il/elle | est rentré |
| nous | sommes rentré |
| vous | êtes rentré |
| ils/elles | sont rentré |
Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | étais rentré |
| tu | étais rentré |
| il/elle | était rentré |
| nous | étions rentré |
| vous | étiez rentré |
| ils/elles | étaient rentré |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serai rentré |
| tu | seras rentré |
| il/elle | sera rentré |
| nous | serons rentré |
| vous | serez rentré |
| ils/elles | seront rentré |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serais rentré |
| tu | serais rentré |
| il/elle | serait rentré |
| nous | serions rentré |
| vous | seriez rentré |
| ils/elles | seraient rentré |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | rentre |
| tu | rentres |
| il/elle | rentre |
| nous | rentrions |
| vous | rentriez |
| ils/elles | rentrent |
Imperfect subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | rentrasse |
| tu | rentrasses |
| il/elle | rentrât |
| nous | rentrassions |
| vous | rentrassiez |
| ils/elles | rentrassent |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | rentre |
| nous | rentrons |
| vous | rentrez |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | rentre |
| nous | rentrons |
| vous | rentrez |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Gerund | en rentrant |
| Past participle | rentré |
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Je rentre à la maison le soir.” — “I return home in the evening.”
Passé simple
The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. For example: “Tu rentras à la maison le soir.” — “You returned home in the evening one day.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Il rentrait à la maison le soir quand j’étais jeune.” — “He used to return home in the evening.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and promises. For example: “Nous rentrerons à la maison le soir.” — “We will return home in the evening tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Vous rentreriez à la maison le soir.” — “You would return home in the evening if you could.”
Present perfect (passé composé)
The present perfect (passé composé) is used for recent past actions and completed events. With rentrer it is formed with être + the past participle rentré. For example: “Ils sont rentré à la maison le soir hier.” — “They have returned home in the evening.”
Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)
The pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “J'étais rentré à la maison le soir avant la fête.” — “I had returned home in the evening before the party.”
Future perfect
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Tu seras rentré à la maison le soir.” — “You will have returned home in the evening by tomorrow evening.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Il serait rentré à la maison le soir.” — “He would have returned home in the evening if he had been able to.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Il faut que je rentre à la maison le soir.” — “It is important that I return home in the evening.”
Imperfect subjunctive
The imperfect subjunctive is used for the past subjunctive: wishes and hypotheticals about the past, mainly in formal writing. For example: “Il fallait que je rentrasse à la maison le soir.” — “It was important that I return home in the evening.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “Rentre à la maison le soir !” — “Return home in the evening!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Rentre à la maison le soir !” — “Do not return home in the evening!”
Gerund and past participle
The gerund is en rentrant — “while returning” — used after en to say how something happens. The past participle is rentré, used with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis rentré.
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with rentrer, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.
- “Je rentre à la maison le soir.” — “I return home in the evening.”
- “Tu rentres à la maison le soir.” — “You return home in the evening.”
- “Il rentrait à la maison le soir.” — “He used to return home in the evening.”
- “Nous rentrerons à la maison le soir.” — “We will return home in the evening tomorrow.”
- “Je rentrerais à la maison le soir.” — “I would return home in the evening if I could.”
- “Tu es rentré à la maison le soir.” — “You have returned home in the evening.”
- “Il était rentré à la maison le soir.” — “He had returned home in the evening before the party.”
- “Nous serons rentré à la maison le soir.” — “We will have returned home in the evening by tomorrow evening.”
- “Il faut que je rentre à la maison le soir.” — “It is important that I return home in the evening.”
- “Rentre à la maison le soir !” — “Return home in the evening!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Je rentrer à la maison le soir.”
✓ Right: “Je rentre à la maison le soir.”
The infinitive rentrer never takes a subject. After je you need the conjugated present form rentre.
2. Confusing rentrer with entrer
✗ Wrong: “Je rentre dans la salle de classe.” (meant as “entrer”)
✓ Right: “Je rentre à la maison le soir.”
rentrer means “to return (home)”; entrer means “to enter”. Keep the two verbs apart by their meaning, not by their sound.
3. Using avoir for the passé composé
✗ Wrong: “J’ai rentré à la maison le soir.”
✓ Right: “Je suis rentré à la maison le soir.”
With rentrer the passé composé is formed with être, not avoir: suis rentré.
4. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Il faut que je rentre à la maison le soir.”
✓ Right: “Il faut que je rentre à la maison le soir.”
After il faut que French needs the subjunctive, so use rentre here, not the indicative rentre.
5. Forgetting that the participle agrees with être
✗ Wrong: “Elle est rentré.” (said of a woman, with the masculine form)
✓ Right: “Elle est rentrée.” — the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject when the auxiliary is être; the tables on this page give the masculine singular form rentré.
With être the past participle agrees with the subject. The tables give the masculine singular; add -e for a feminine subject and -s for a plural one.
Quiz: test yourself
What is the je form of rentrer in the Present indicative?
- A) rentrez
- B) rentre
- C) rentrons
- D) rentrent
What is the ils/elles form of rentrer in the Present indicative?
- A) rentrons
- B) rentrez
- C) rentres
- D) rentrent
What is the il/elle form of rentrer in the Passé simple?
- A) rentrèrent
- B) rentrâtes
- C) rentra
- D) rentrai
What is the nous form of rentrer in the Imperfect?
- A) rentrait
- B) rentrais
- C) rentrions
- D) rentriez
What is the tu form of rentrer in the Future?
- A) rentrera
- B) rentrerons
- C) rentrerez
- D) rentreras
What is the je form of rentrer in the Conditional?
- A) rentrerais
- B) rentreriez
- C) rentrerions
- D) rentreraient
What is the il/elle form of rentrer in the Present perfect (passé composé)?
- A) sont rentré
- B) êtes rentré
- C) suis rentré
- D) est rentré
What is the vous form of rentrer in the Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)?
- A) étiez rentré
- B) était rentré
- C) étais rentré
- D) étions rentré
What is the gerund of rentrer?
- A) rentre
- B) rentré
- C) en rentrant
- D) rentrerai
What is the past participle of rentrer?
- A) en rentrant
- B) rentré
- C) rentrais
- D) rentre
Answer key
- B) rentre — the je form of rentrer in the present indicative is rentre.
- D) rentrent — the ils/elles form of rentrer in the present indicative is rentrent.
- C) rentra — the il/elle form of rentrer in the passé simple is rentra.
- C) rentrions — the nous form of rentrer in the imperfect is rentrions.
- D) rentreras — the tu form of rentrer in the future is rentreras.
- A) rentrerais — the je form of rentrer in the conditional is rentrerais.
- D) est rentré — the il/elle form of rentrer in the present perfect (passé composé) is est rentré.
- A) étiez rentré — the vous form of rentrer in the pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) is étiez rentré.
- C) en rentrant — the gerund of rentrer is en rentrant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
- B) rentré — the past participle of rentrer is rentré; perfect tenses use être + rentré.
Frequently asked questions
What does rentrer mean in English?
rentrer means “to return (home)”. You use it in everyday situations like the examples on this page — for example, “Je rentre à la maison le soir.” (“I return home in the evening.”). It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is rentrer regular or irregular?
rentrer is regular: its endings follow the standard -er pattern in every tense. The gerund is en rentrant and the past participle is rentré.
What are the gerund and past participle of rentrer?
The gerund is en rentrant — use it after en for actions in progress. The past participle is rentré — use it with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis rentré.
What is the difference between rentrer and entrer?
rentrer means “to return (home)”, while entrer means “to enter”. They are easy to mix up because they appear in similar situations, but their meanings are different. If you are unsure, check the full conjugation page for entrer and compare the meanings in context.
How do I say “I return” in French?
Say “Je rentre à la maison le soir.” — “I return home in the evening.” The je form of the present is rentre, and it is the form you will use most often.
How to learn rentrer
Start with the present tense: rentre, rentres, rentre, rentrons, rentrez, rentrent. Say them in order every day for a week, then add the passé composé — suis rentré — and the imperfect — rentrais. Next, learn the future (rentrerai) and the conditional (rentrerais), which share the same stem. Finally, tackle the subjunctive (rentre) and the imperative (rentre). Write one sentence of your own in each tense, using the examples above as models, and check every form against the tables. When you can produce all six persons of the present without looking, move on to the present-tense quiz.
Related pages
- rentrer in the present tense — the full table and uses for this verb in the present tense.
- rentrer examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- French verbs — the full hub of French conjugation pages.
- French present tense guide — how this tense works for regular verbs.
- Entrer conjugation — another French verb to practise with.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- Verb Conjugator — practise rentrer with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise rentrer with the interactive tool.
- Present Tense Conjugator — practise the present tense with the interactive tool.
- VerbFlow home — back to the start.