S'habiller Conjugation in French
s'habiller means “get dressed” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early — it sits in VerbFlow’s frequency list for French. You use it for getting ready in the morning, for dressing for a party, and for describing a hurried morning. Because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. It is a reflexive verb, so the pronoun comes before the verb in a sentence. This page gives you the complete conjugation of s'habiller — 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 m'habille vite.” — “I get dressed quickly.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: s'habiller
- English: get dressed
- Verb type: Regular
- Irregular in: none — it is regular in every tense
- Gerund: en habillant
- Past participle: habillé
- Auxiliary: être (all perfect tenses are formed with être + the past participle)
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for s'habiller, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for s'habiller. 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 | habille |
| tu | habilles |
| il/elle | habille |
| nous | habillons |
| vous | habillez |
| ils/elles | habillent |
Passé simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | habillai |
| tu | habillas |
| il/elle | habilla |
| nous | habillâmes |
| vous | habillâtes |
| ils/elles | habillèrent |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | habillais |
| tu | habillais |
| il/elle | habillait |
| nous | habillions |
| vous | habilliez |
| ils/elles | habillaient |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | habillerai |
| tu | habilleras |
| il/elle | habillera |
| nous | habillerons |
| vous | habillerez |
| ils/elles | habilleront |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | habillerais |
| tu | habillerais |
| il/elle | habillerait |
| nous | habillerions |
| vous | habilleriez |
| ils/elles | habilleraient |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | habille |
| tu | habilles |
| il/elle | habille |
| nous | habillions |
| vous | habilliez |
| ils/elles | habillent |
Imperfect subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | habillasse |
| tu | habillasses |
| il/elle | habillât |
| nous | habillassions |
| vous | habillassiez |
| ils/elles | habillassent |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | suis habillé |
| tu | es habillé |
| il/elle | est habillé |
| nous | sommes habillé |
| vous | êtes habillé |
| ils/elles | sont habillé |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | étais habillé |
| tu | étais habillé |
| il/elle | était habillé |
| nous | étions habillé |
| vous | étiez habillé |
| ils/elles | étaient habillé |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serai habillé |
| tu | seras habillé |
| il/elle | sera habillé |
| nous | serons habillé |
| vous | serez habillé |
| ils/elles | seront habillé |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serais habillé |
| tu | serais habillé |
| il/elle | serait habillé |
| nous | serions habillé |
| vous | seriez habillé |
| ils/elles | seraient habillé |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | habille |
| nous | habillons |
| vous | habillez |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | habille |
| nous | habillons |
| vous | habillez |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Gerund | en habillant |
| Past participle | habillé |
The tables show the bare verb form as listed in the verified dump. In a sentence the reflexive pronoun comes before the verb — je me, tu te, il se, nous nous, vous vous, ils se — and in the perfect tenses it comes before the auxiliary, as in “Je me suis habillé.”
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Je m'habille en cinq minutes.” — “I get dressed in five minutes.”
Passé simple
The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. For example: “Je m'habillai en cinq minutes hier.” — “I got dressed in five minutes yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Je m'habillais en cinq minutes avant.” — “I used to get dressed in five minutes before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and plans. For example: “Je m'habillerai en cinq minutes demain.” — “I will get dressed in five minutes tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Je m'habillerais en cinq minutes un jour.” — “I would get dressed in five minutes one day.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Bien que je m'habille en cinq minutes” — “Although I get dressed in five minutes.”
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 je m'habillasse en cinq minutes” — “Although I get dressed in five minutes.”
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: “Je me suis habillé en cinq minutes cette semaine.” — “I have got dressed in five minutes this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Je me étais habillé en cinq minutes avant la fête.” — “I had got dressed in five minutes before the party.”
Future perfect
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Je me serai habillé en cinq minutes pour demain.” — “I will have got dressed in five minutes by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Je me serais habillé en cinq minutes hier.” — “I would have got dressed in five minutes yesterday.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “habille-toi en cinq minutes !” — “Get dressed in five minutes!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Ne te habille pas en cinq minutes !” — “Don't get dressed in five minutes!”
Gerund and past participle
The gerund en habillant is used after en for an action in progress, and the past participle habillé builds the perfect tenses with être. For example: “Je me suis habillé pour la fête cette semaine.” — “I have got dressed for the party this week.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with s'habiller, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.
- “Je m'habille vite.” — “I get dressed quickly.”
- “Tu t'habillas en cinq minutes hier.” — “You got dressed in five minutes yesterday.”
- “Il s'habillait pour la fête avant.” — “He used to get dressed for the party before.”
- “Je m'habillerai très bien demain.” — “I will get dressed very well tomorrow.”
- “Tu t'habillerais vite un jour.” — “You would get dressed quickly one day.”
- “Il se est habillé en cinq minutes cette semaine.” — “He has got dressed in five minutes this week.”
- “Je me étais habillé pour la fête avant la fête.” — “I had got dressed for the party before the party.”
- “Tu te seras habillé très bien pour demain.” — “You will have got dressed very well by tomorrow.”
- “Bien que il s'habille vite” — “Although he gets dressed quickly.”
- “habille-toi en cinq minutes !” — “Get dressed in five minutes!”
Common mistakes
1. Dropping the reflexive pronoun
✗ Wrong: “Je habille tôt.”
✓ Right: “Je me habille tôt.”
s'habiller is reflexive: the pronoun (me, te, se…) belongs before the verb. Without it the sentence is incomplete.
2. Using the wrong person
✗ Wrong: “Je habillons en cinq minutes.”
✓ Right: “Je habille en cinq minutes.”
habillons is the nous form. With je the present form is habille — check the person in the table before you speak.
3. Using the present for a finished past action
✗ Wrong: “Hier, je habille vite.”
✓ Right: “Hier, j'suis habillé vite.”
The present habille describes now. For something finished yesterday, use the passé composé suis habillé.
4. Using the passé simple in everyday speech
✗ Wrong: “Hier, je habillai pour la fête.” (in casual conversation)
✓ Right: “Hier, j'suis habillé pour la fête.”
The passé simple habillai belongs in novels and formal writing. In everyday speech, say the passé composé suis habillé.
5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Bien que je habille vite.”
✓ Right: “Bien que je habille vite.”
After bien que French needs the subjunctive, so use habille here, not the indicative habille.
6. Using the imperfect for a single finished action
✗ Wrong: “Je habillais très bien avant.” (said of one finished moment)
✓ Right: “J'suis habillé très bien avant.”
The imperfect habillais describes something ongoing or repeated in the past. For one finished action, use the passé composé suis habillé.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on s'habiller. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the je form of s'habiller in the Present indicative?
- A) habillent
- B) habillons
- C) habille
- D) habilles
What is the il/elle form of s'habiller in the Passé simple?
- A) habillas
- B) habillai
- C) habilla
- D) habillèrent
What is the nous form of s'habiller in the Imperfect?
- A) habillais
- B) habillaient
- C) habillions
- D) habillait
What is the tu form of s'habiller in the Future?
- A) habilleront
- B) habilleras
- C) habillerons
- D) habillerez
What is the je form of s'habiller in the Conditional?
- A) habillerait
- B) habilleriez
- C) habillerais
- D) habilleraient
What is the il/elle form of s'habiller in the Present subjunctive?
- A) habille
- B) habillent
- C) habilliez
- D) habillions
What is the je form of s'habiller in the Imperfect subjunctive?
- A) habillassions
- B) habillassent
- C) habillasse
- D) habillât
What is the gerund of s'habiller?
- A) habillant
- B) dormant
- C) buvant
What is the past participle of s'habiller?
- A) bu
- B) dormi
- C) habillé
What does s'habiller mean in English?
- A) drink
- B) open
- C) sleep
- D) get dressed
Answer key
- C) habille — The je form of s'habiller in the present indicative is habille.
- C) habilla — The il/elle form of s'habiller in the passé simple is habilla.
- C) habillions — The nous form of s'habiller in the imperfect is habillions.
- B) habilleras — The tu form of s'habiller in the future is habilleras.
- C) habillerais — The je form of s'habiller in the conditional is habillerais.
- A) habille — The il/elle form of s'habiller in the present subjunctive is habille.
- C) habillasse — The je form of s'habiller in the imperfect subjunctive is habillasse.
- A) habillant — The gerund of s'habiller is en habillant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
- C) habillé — The past participle of s'habiller is habillé; perfect tenses use être + habillé.
- D) get dressed — s'habiller means “get dressed” in English.
Frequently asked questions
What does s'habiller mean in English?
s'habiller means “get dressed”. You use it for getting ready in the morning, for dressing for a party, and for describing a hurried morning. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is s'habiller regular or irregular?
s'habiller is regular, and it is irregular in these tenses: none — it is regular in every tense. The gerund is en habillant and the past participle is habillé.
What are the gerund and past participle of s'habiller?
The gerund is en habillant — use it after en for actions in progress. The past participle is habillé — use it with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis habillé.
How do I say “I get dressed” in French?
Say “Je m'habille vite.” — “I get dressed quickly.” The je form of the present is habille, and it is the form you will use most often.
What is the difference between s'habiller and se lever?
s'habiller means “get dressed” while se lever means “get up” — they describe different actions, so they are not interchangeable. Compare the full table for se lever and check the meaning in context before you choose.
Related pages
- S'habiller Present Tense Conjugation in French
- S'habiller Examples, Sentences & Quiz in French
- Se lever conjugation
- Se préparer conjugation
- Porter conjugation
- French verbs — the full hub of French conjugation pages.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- VerbFlow home — all languages and tools.
- Verb Conjugator — practise s'habiller with the interactive tool.
- Reflexive Verb Conjugator — practise s'habiller with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise s'habiller with the interactive tool.