Sourire Conjugation in French

sourire means “smile” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early — it sits in VerbFlow’s frequency list for French. You use it for greeting people, for describing a photo, and for talking about being friendly. 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 sourire — 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 souris souvent.” — “I smile often.”

Quick facts

  • Infinitive: sourire
  • English: smile
  • Verb type: Irregular
  • Irregular in: present, passe-simple, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative
  • Gerund: en sourisant
  • Past participle: souri
  • 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 sourire, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

Full conjugation tables

Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for sourire. 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 souris
tu souris
il/elle sourit
nous sourisons
vous sourisez
ils/elles sourisent

Passé simple

Person Form
je souris
tu souris
il/elle sourit
nous sourîmes
vous sourîtes
ils/elles sourirent

Imperfect

Person Form
je sourisais
tu sourisais
il/elle sourisait
nous sourisions
vous sourisiez
ils/elles sourisaient

Future

Person Form
je sourirai
tu souriras
il/elle sourira
nous sourirons
vous sourirez
ils/elles souriront

Conditional

Person Form
je sourirais
tu sourirais
il/elle sourirait
nous souririons
vous souririez
ils/elles souriraient

Present subjunctive

Person Form
je sourise
tu sourises
il/elle sourise
nous sourisions
vous sourisiez
ils/elles sourisent

Imperfect subjunctive

Person Form
je sourisse
tu sourisses
il/elle sourît
nous sourissions
vous sourissiez
ils/elles sourissent

Present perfect

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

Pluperfect (past perfect)

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

Future perfect

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

Conditional perfect

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

Imperative (affirmative)

Person Form
tu souris
nous sourisons
vous sourisez

Imperative (negative)

Person Form
tu souris
nous sourisons
vous sourisez

Gerund and past participle

Form French
Gerund en sourisant
Past participle souri

When to use each tense

Present indicative

The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. With sourire this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Je souris à Marie.” — “I smile at Marie.”

Passé simple

The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. With sourire this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Je souris à Marie hier.” — “I smiled at Marie yesterday.”

Imperfect

The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Je sourisais à Marie avant.” — “I used to smile at Marie before.”

Future

The future is used for what will happen, predictions and plans. For example: “Je sourirai à Marie demain.” — “I will smile at Marie tomorrow.”

Conditional

The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Je sourirais à Marie un jour.” — “I would smile at Marie one day.”

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. With sourire this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Bien que je sourise à Marie” — “Although I smile at Marie.”

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 sourisse à Marie” — “Although I smile at Marie.”

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 souri à Marie cette semaine.” — “I have smiled at Marie this week.”

Pluperfect (past perfect)

The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “J'avais souri à Marie avant la fête.” — “I had smiled at Marie 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 souri à Marie pour demain.” — “I will have smiled at Marie by tomorrow.”

Conditional perfect

The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “J'aurais souri à Marie hier.” — “I would have smiled at Marie yesterday.”

Imperative (affirmative)

The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. With sourire this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “souris à Marie !” — “Smile at Marie!”

Imperative (negative)

The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. With sourire this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Ne souris pas à Marie !” — “Don't smile at Marie!”

Gerund and past participle

The gerund en sourisant is used after en for an action in progress, and the past participle souri builds the perfect tenses with avoir. For example: “J'ai souri toute la journée cette semaine.” — “I have smiled all day this week.”

Example sentences

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

  1. “Je souris souvent.” — “I smile often.”
  2. “Tu souris à Marie hier.” — “You smiled at Marie yesterday.”
  3. “Il sourisait toute la journée avant.” — “He used to smile all day before.”
  4. “Je sourirai très gentiment demain.” — “I will smile very kindly tomorrow.”
  5. “Tu sourirais souvent un jour.” — “You would smile often one day.”
  6. “Il a souri à Marie cette semaine.” — “He has smiled at Marie this week.”
  7. “J'avais souri toute la journée avant la fête.” — “I had smiled all day before the party.”
  8. “Tu auras souri très gentiment pour demain.” — “You will have smiled very kindly by tomorrow.”
  9. “Bien que il sourise souvent” — “Although he smiles often.”
  10. “souris à Marie !” — “Smile at Marie!”

Common mistakes

1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

✗ Wrong: “Je sourire souvent.”

✓ Right: “Je souris souvent.”

The infinitive sourire never takes a subject. After je you need the conjugated present form souris.

2. Using the wrong person

✗ Wrong: “Je sourisons à Marie.”

✓ Right: “Je souris à Marie.”

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

3. Using the present for a finished past action

✗ Wrong: “Hier, je souris souvent.”

✓ Right: “Hier, j'ai souri souvent.”

The present souris describes now. For something finished yesterday, use the passé composé ai souri.

4. Using the passé simple in everyday speech

✗ Wrong: “Hier, je souris toute la journée.” (in casual conversation)

✓ Right: “Hier, j'ai souri toute la journée.”

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

5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger

✗ Wrong: “Bien que je souris souvent.”

✓ Right: “Bien que je sourise souvent.”

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

6. Using the imperfect for a single finished action

✗ Wrong: “Je sourisais très gentiment avant.” (said of one finished moment)

✓ Right: “J'ai souri très gentiment avant.”

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

Quiz: test yourself

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

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

    • A) sourisent
    • B) souris
    • C) sourit
    • D) sourisons

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

    • A) souris
    • B) sourîtes
    • C) sourirent
    • D) sourit

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

    • A) sourisaient
    • B) sourisais
    • C) sourisions
    • D) sourisiez

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

    • A) sourirai
    • B) sourira
    • C) sourirons
    • D) souriras

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

    • A) souririons
    • B) souriraient
    • C) sourirais
    • D) sourirait

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

    • A) sourisiez
    • B) sourisions
    • C) sourises
    • D) sourise

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

    • A) sourît
    • B) sourisses
    • C) sourisse
    • D) sourissions

  8. What is the gerund of sourire?

    • A) dormant
    • B) buvant
    • C) sourisant

  9. What is the past participle of sourire?

    • A) bu
    • B) souri
    • C) dormi

  10. What does sourire mean in English?

  • A) sleep
  • B) open
  • C) drink
  • D) smile

Answer key

  1. B) souris — The je form of sourire in the present indicative is souris.
  2. D) sourit — The il/elle form of sourire in the passé simple is sourit.
  3. C) sourisions — The nous form of sourire in the imperfect is sourisions.
  4. D) souriras — The tu form of sourire in the future is souriras.
  5. C) sourirais — The je form of sourire in the conditional is sourirais.
  6. D) sourise — The il/elle form of sourire in the present subjunctive is sourise.
  7. C) sourisse — The je form of sourire in the imperfect subjunctive is sourisse.
  8. C) sourisant — The gerund of sourire is en sourisant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
  9. B) souri — The past participle of sourire is souri; perfect tenses use avoir + souri.
  10. D) smile — sourire means “smile” in English.

Frequently asked questions

What does sourire mean in English?

sourire means “smile”. You use it for greeting people, for describing a photo, and for talking about being friendly. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.

Is sourire regular or irregular?

sourire is irregular, and it is irregular in these tenses: present, passe-simple, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The gerund is en sourisant and the past participle is souri.

What are the gerund and past participle of sourire?

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

How do I say “I smile” in French?

Say “Je souris souvent.” — “I smile often.” The je form of the present is souris, and it is the form you will use most often.

What is the difference between sourire and rire?

sourire means “smile” while rire means “laugh” — they describe different actions, so they are not interchangeable. Compare the full table for rire and check the meaning in context before you choose.

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