The French verb espérer means "to hope". Below are its 7 tenses as tables, with the irregular forms marked, 4 example sentences and answers to 3 common questions. Press play next to a present tense form or an example to hear it.
The present tense of espérer is j'espère, tu espères, il/elle espère, nous espérons, vous espérez, ils/elles espèrent. It counts as a regular -er verb, though 9 of its forms differ from the model pattern and are marked in the tables. The tables below cover 7 tenses, from the present to the imperative. Its compound tenses are formed with avoir.
Forms in orange break the regular -er pattern.
| j' | espère (irregular) | |
|---|---|---|
| tu | espères (irregular) | |
| il/ | espère (irregular) | |
| nous | espérons | |
| vous | espérez | |
| ils/ | espèrent (irregular) |
| j' | ai espéré |
|---|---|
| tu | as espéré |
| il/ | a espéré |
| nous | avons espéré |
| vous | avez espéré |
| ils/ | ont espéré |
| j' | espérais |
|---|---|
| tu | espérais |
| il/ | espérait |
| nous | espérions |
| vous | espériez |
| ils/ | espéraient |
| j' | espérerai |
|---|---|
| tu | espéreras |
| il/ | espérera |
| nous | espérerons |
| vous | espérerez |
| ils/ | espéreront |
| j' | espérerais |
|---|---|
| tu | espérerais |
| il/ | espérerait |
| nous | espérerions |
| vous | espéreriez |
| ils/ | espéreraient |
| que j' | espère (irregular) |
|---|---|
| que tu | espères (irregular) |
| qu'il/ | espère (irregular) |
| que nous | espérions |
| que vous | espériez |
| qu'ils/ | espèrent (irregular) |
| tu | espère (irregular) |
|---|---|
| nous | espérons |
| vous | espérez |
Espérer is regular, with spelling changes only. The spelling changes from é to è in present forms such as espère and espèrent, while nous has espérons. The present subjunctive and tu imperative show the same spelling pattern.
Lingo7 is an app for reading books in French with a translation under every sentence and audio, so the forms in these tables come back in context.
Yes, espérer is regular, with spelling changes only. It follows the regular -er pattern while changing é to è in several present forms.
The present forms are espère, espères, espère, espérons, espérez, espèrent. The spelling changes appear in je, tu, il or elle, and ils or elles.
The past participle is espéré and the auxiliary is avoir. The compound past uses forms such as ai espéré and avons espéré.