Read All About It: “Lire” Conjugation in French

Some people love lying on the beach with a good book on their summer vacation, others prefer to cozy up by the fire and read on a cold winter’s night. Then there are the bookworms who love to bury themselves in a good book, no matter the season. Whether you’re an avid reader or a part-time book-lover, you need to know how to use the French lire conjugation.

Reading is not only one of the world’s most popular pastimes, it’s also one of the four main skills that we learn in school. That means that even if you don’t like to read, it’s still a vital skill, and therefore “to read” is one of the most common verbs.

Lire is an irregular verb, because it doesn’t keep the same stem for all conjugations. It’s a unique verb, as no other French verbs follow the same pattern.

Lire Conjugation Present Tense (le présent)

Lire can be used in the same way as the English present continuous tense to explain that you are reading something at this very moment, or to say that at this time in your life you are in the process of reading a book or text. It can also be used in place of the simple present, to state facts or to talk about habits and routines.

Je lis	I read
Tu lis	You read
Il/elle/on lit	He/she/it reads
Nous lisons	We read
Vous lisez	You read (formal/plural)
Ils/elles lisent	They read

• Je lis des romans pour me détendre – I read novels to relax
• Plus on lit aux enfants, plus ils apprennent à lire eux-mêmes – The more we read to children, the more they learn to read themselves
• Vous lisez le journal sans vos lunettes – You’re reading the newspaper without your glasses

Lire Conjugation Imperfect Tense (l’imparfait)

The imperfect tense is used for things we were doing or things we used to do in the past. The imperfect tense is formed by adding the same endings to each verb stem. In the case of the verb lire, the stem is “lis-”.

Je lisais	I used to read/was reading
Tu lisais	You used to read/were reading
Il/elle/on lisait	He/she/it used to read/was reading
Nous lisions	We used to read/were reading
Vous lisiez	You used to read/were reading (formal/plural)
Ils/elles lisaient	They used to read/were reading

• Tu lisais tous les jours quand tu étais adolescent – You used to read every day when you were a teenager
• Il lisait des bandes dessinées en cachette dans sa chambre – He used to read comic books in secret in his room
• Nous lisions les pronostics de la course quand il a été annoncé que mon cheval avait gagné – We were reading the race predictions when it was announced that my horse had won

Lire Conjugation Past Tense (le passé composé)

To use the French passé composé, we must know the past participles of a verb. Irregular verbs all have different past participles, which is one of the things that makes them irregular. The past participle of the verb lire is “lu”.

J’ai lu	I read
Tu as lu	You read
Il/elle/on a lu	He/she/it read
Nous avons lu	We read
Vous avez lu	You read (formal/plural)
Ils/elles ont lu	They read

• J’ai lu sa lettre d’excuses, mais je n’étais pas convaincu qu’il était vraiment désolé – I read his letter of apology, but I wasn’t convinced that he was truly sorry
• Elle a lu les lignes de ma main pour prédire mon avenir – She read my palms to predict my future
• Quand ils avaient 10 ans, ils ont lu toute la série Harry Potter en moins de deux semaines – When they were 10, they read the whole Harry Potter series in less than two weeks

Lire Conjugation Future Tense (le futur simple)

The simple future is simple because it uses only one word. Future verb conjugations always have the same future endings, preceded by the letter “r”. For the verb lire, we remove the last letter so that we’re left with a stem ending in “r”. This tense is used for things that we plan on doing or predict will happen in the future.

Je lirai	I will read
Tu liras	You will read
Il/elle lira	He/she/it will read
Nous lirons	We will read
Vous lirez	You will read (formal/plural)
Ils/elles liront	They will read

• Il lira le dernier livre de la trilogie une fois qu’il aura terminé le deuxième – He will read the final book in the trilogy once he finishes the second
• Vous lirez le poème en entier et l’apprendrez par cœur avant le prochain cours – You will read the whole poem and learn it by heart before the next lesson
• Elles liront sans doute des magazines de mode en attendant chez le coiffeur – They will no doubt read fashion magazines while waiting at the hair salon

Lire Conjugation Near Future (le futur proche)

The verb “aller” is the auxiliary verb that is used in the near future tense along with an infinitive verb. This tense indicates that an action will happen imminently, or that somebody has the intention to do something.

Je vais lire	I am going to read
Tu vas lire	You are going to read
Il/elle va lire	He/she/it is going to read
Nous allons lire	We are going to read
Vous allez lire	You are going to read (formal/plural)
Ils/elles vont lire	They are going to read

• Je vais lire un passage de mon livre devant un public demain soir – I’m going to read a passage of my book in front of an audience tomorrow night
• Tu vas lire tout ce chapitre tout de suite ou il n’y aura pas de télé pendant une semaine – You’re going to read that whole chapter right now or there’ll be no TV for a week
• Lors de la réunion du personnel, nous allons lire le rapport trimestriel – In the staff meeting, we’re going to read the quarterly overview

Lire Conjugation Pluperfect Tense (le plus-que-parfait)

To talk about something you read preceding another action or moment in the past, you must use the pluperfect. To form this tense, conjugate the verb avoir in the imperfect tense and then add the past participle.

J’avais lu	I had read
Tu avais lu	You had read
Il/elle/on avait lu	He/she/it had read
Nous avions lu	We had read
Vous aviez lu	You had read (formal/plural)
Ils/elles avaient lu	They had read

• Elle avait déjà lu le livre avant que tu lui racontes l’histoire – She had already read the book before you told her the story
• Vous aviez lu les programmes avant les élections – You had read the manifestos before the election
• Ils avaient lu le résumé avant de lire le livre – They had read the summary before they read the book

Lire in the Conditional Mood (le conditionnel présent)

To form the conditional mood, we take the stem of the verb ending in “r” and add on the imperfect endings. We use this tense to say what would happen based on certain conditions, just like with the word “would” in English.

Je lirais	I would read
Tu lirais	You would read
Il/elle lirait	He/she/it would read
Nous lirions	We would read
Vous liriez	You would read (formal/plural)
Ils/elles liraient	They would read

• Si je n’avais pas d’enfants, je lirais plus souvent – If I didn’t have children I would read more often
• Il lirait toutes les théories de la physique s’il avait le temps – He would read all the physics theories if he had the time
• Vous liriez des bandes dessinées au lieu de romans tous les jours si vous le pouviez – You would read comics instead of novels every day if you could

Se lire

You will surely have come across other reflexive verbs before, (everyone knows “je m’appelle”, right?) Se lire is a reflexive verb or “verbe pronominal” with several meanings.

Firstly, it means “to be read,” in the sense interpreted or understood.

• Ce texte peut se lire de différentes manières, il est ouvert à l’interprétation – This text can be read in various ways, it is open to interpretation

Secondly, it means “to be read”, in the literal sense, for example:

• Les poèmes se lisent plus rapidement que les livres – Poems are read more quickly than books

Finally, it can have a figurative meaning, to say that something is visible or clearly shown.

• La peur se lisait sur les visages des enfants qui attendaient leur punition – Fear could be read on the children’s faces as they awaited their punishment (fear was visible)

Relire

The prefix “re” means “again”. When this prefix is added to the lire conjugation, it simply means “re-read”.

• J’ai déjà relu le livre, je l’ai tellement adoré – I have already re-read the book, I loved it so much
• Il lit et relit chaque contrat avant de le signer – He reads and re-reads every contract before signing it

Expressions Using the Lire Conjugation

1. Lire sur les lèvres – Lip-read

Literal translation: To read on the lips

• Quand les gens ne connaissent pas la langue des signes, je lis sur les lèvres – When people don’t know sign language, I lip-read

2. Lire dans les pensées de quelqu’un – Read somebody’s mind/thoughts

Literal translation: To read in the thoughts of someone

• Elle s’attend à ce qu’il sache ce qu’elle veut, mais il ne peut pas lire dans ses pensées – She expects him to know what she wants, but he can’t read her mind

3. Lire en quelqu’un comme dans livre ouvert – read somebody like a book

Literal translation: To read someone like in an open book

• Je sais exactement ce qu’il va faire ensuite, je peux lire en lui comme dans un livre – I know exactly what he’s going to do next, I can read him like a book

4. Lire en diagonale – Skim read/Glance over

Literal translation: To read on diagonal

• Je n’ai pas le temps de tout lire, mais je peux le lire en diagonale plus tard – I don’t have time to read the whole thing but I can skim through it later

5. Lire dans le marc de café – Read tea leaves (equivalent)

Literal translation: To read in the coffee grounds

• Je suis allée voir une voyante et elle a lu dans le marc de café – I went to see a psychic and she read my tea leaves

Some say that “reading is dreaming with open eyes”, because when you immerse yourself in a good book, you can travel through time and space, forget about real life and get lost within the pages. What’s more, books are one of the best educational tools, that can widen your vocabulary and expand your knowledge. Whether you’re reading to learn or just for fun, next time, why don’t you try picking up a book in French to continue your journey to fluency?