lâcher: conjugation and meaning · How to Learn French

Conjugations

All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to let go of.”

Present Présent

Habits, current states, and actions happening now.

lâcher: Present, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	lâche	I let go of
tu	lâches	you let go of
il / elle / on	lâche	he / she / it lets go ofon: we let go of / one lets go of
nous	lâchons	we let go of
vous	lâchez	you let go of
ils / elles	lâchent	they let go of

IN A SENTENCEPresent example

Paul lâche la corde.

Paul lets go of the rope.

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Passé composé

Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.

lâcher: Passé composé, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	ai lâché	I let go of
tu	as lâché	you let go of
il / elle / on	a lâché	he / she / it let go ofon: we let go of / one let go of
nous	avons lâché	we let go of
vous	avez lâché	you let go of
ils / elles	ont lâché	they let go of

IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example

Hier, Paul a lâché la corde.

Yesterday, Paul let go of the rope.

The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.

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Imperfect Imparfait

Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.

lâcher: Imperfect, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	lâchais	I used to let go of
tu	lâchais	you used to let go of
il / elle / on	lâchait	he / she / it used to let go ofon: we used to let go of / one used to let go of
nous	lâchions	we used to let go of
vous	lâchiez	you used to let go of
ils / elles	lâchaient	they used to let go of

IN A SENTENCEImperfect example

Autrefois, Paul lâchait la corde.

Back then, Paul used to let go of the rope.

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Future Futur simple

Future events and predictions.

lâcher: Future, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	lâcherai	I will let go of
tu	lâcheras	you will let go of
il / elle / on	lâchera	he / she / it will let go ofon: we will let go of / one will let go of
nous	lâcherons	we will let go of
vous	lâcherez	you will let go of
ils / elles	lâcheront	they will let go of

IN A SENTENCEFuture example

Plus tard, Paul lâchera la corde.

Later, Paul will let go of the rope.

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Conditional Conditionnel présent

Hypothetical events and polite requests.

lâcher: Conditional, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	lâcherais	I would let go of
tu	lâcherais	you would let go of
il / elle / on	lâcherait	he / she / it would let go ofon: we would let go of / one would let go of
nous	lâcherions	we would let go of
vous	lâcheriez	you would let go of
ils / elles	lâcheraient	they would let go of

IN A SENTENCEConditional example

Paul lâcherait la corde.

Paul would let go of the rope.

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Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.

lâcher: Present subjunctive, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	lâche	(that) I let go of
tu	lâches	(that) you let go of
il / elle / on	lâche	(that) he / she / it lets go ofon: (that) we let go of / one lets go of
nous	lâchions	(that) we let go of
vous	lâchiez	(that) you let go of
ils / elles	lâchent	(that) they let go of

IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example

Il est possible que Paul lâche la corde.

It is possible that Paul lets go of the rope.

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French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”

Meaning & usage

to release; to loosen; to let go
to abandon, to let go
to chicken out

English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗

Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations