Conjugating the Verb Détendre (to Release) in French

In French, the verb  dà ©tendre  means to release, to slacken, or to loosen. At times, it is also used to mean to relax, though relax, meaning laid back is an invariable adjective in French as well. Nonetheless, when it comes to changing the verb  dà ©tendre  to the past, present, or future tense, a conjugation is required. Conjugation Just like in English, French verbs must be conjugated to fit the tense of a sentence. However, its a little more complex because in French we must also take into account the subject pronoun. That means you have more forms of  dà ©tendre  to learn. Dà ©tendre  is a  regular -RE verb  and it shares its endings with similar verbs such as  descendre  (to go down). This makes learning each new word just a little easier than the last. To conjugate  dà ©tendre  in the simplest forms, simply pair the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense. For instance, I am releasing is je dà ©tends and we will release is nous dà ©tendrons. Practicing these in context will help in memorizing them. Subject Present Future Imperfect je dtends dtendrai dtendais tu dtends dtendras dtendais il dtend dtendra dtendait nous dtendons dtendrons dtendions vous dtendez dtendrez dtendiez ils dtendent dtendront dtendaient Present Participle When the ending -ant  is added to the verb stem  dà ©tend-, the  present participle  dà ©tendant  is formed. This can be used as an adjective, gerund, or noun as well as a verb. Past Participle and Passà © Composà © The  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is another common form of the past tense released in French. It is formed by conjugating the  auxiliary, or helping, verb  avoir, then attaching the  past participle  dà ©tendu.   For example, I released is jai dà ©tendu and we released is nous avons dà ©tendu. Notice how the past participle does not change and that  ai  and  avons  are conjugates of  avoir. Simple  Conjugations When the action of releasing is in some way subjective or uncertain, the subjunctive verb mood is used. In a similar fashion, when the release will only happen  if  something else occurs, we then employ the conditional verb mood. Those two are rather useful, though the passà © simple and imperfect subjunctive are used with less frequency. Its likely you will only encounter these in writing, though familiarizing yourself with them is not a bad idea. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je dtende dtendrais dtendis dtendisse tu dtendes dtendrais dtendis dtendisses il dtende dtendrait dtendit dtendt nous dtendions dtendrions dtendmes dtendissions vous dtendiez dtendriez dtendtes dtendissiez ils dtendent dtendraient dtendirent dtendissent Its also possible that you will use  dà ©tendre  in the imperative form at times. When doing so, the short statements do not require the subject pronoun, so tu dà ©tends becomes dà ©tends. Imperative (tu) dtends (nous) dtendons (vous) dtendez