Conjugations for the French Verb Prier To Pray, or Ask

Conjugating French verbs  like prier—which means to pray or in some cases to beg, to ask, or to request—can be difficult. But the job is made immeasurably easier because its a  regular verb. For example, to conjugate any -ER verb in the present tense in French, you remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings. The tables below show  how to conjugate prier  in the present, future, imperfect, and past participle tenses, as well as the subjunctive, conditional, simple imperfect, and imperative  moods. After the tables, a subsequent section provides examples of how to use prier  in a sentence or phrase, followed by the English translation for each use. Conjugating Prier Present Future Imperfect Present participle je prie prierai priais priant tu pries prieras priais il prie priera priait nous prions prierons priions Past participle vous priez prierez priiez pri ils prient prieront priaient Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive je prie prierais priai priasse tu pries prierais prias priasses il prie prierait pria prit nous priions prierions primes priassions vous priiez prieriez prites priassiez ils prient prieraient prirent priassent Imperative tu prie nous prions vous priez Using Prier in a   Sentence Reverso Dictionary, an online language-translation site, gives this example of prier  in a sentence: Les Grecs priaient Dionysos, which transelates as:  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹The Greeks prayed to  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Dionysos. Using the table above, youll notice this is the form of prier in the  French imperfect tense.  The French imperfect—also called  imparfait—is a descriptive  past tense, which indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of the state of being or action are not indicated, and the imperfect is very often translated in English as was or was ___-ing. In this case, the Greeks presumably prayed to Dionysis, the Greek god of wine and revelry, on a regular basis—not just once. Since the reader doesnt know when the Greeks began praying to this god, and when they finished, the imperfect is the proper tense. To Ask or to Beg Sometimes  prier  can mean to ask or to beg. It can be helpful to view examples of how this verb is used in a sentence or even a phrase. This example of  prier  from Reverso Dictionary shows how to use the verb when its meaning is to ask. prier quelquun de faire quelque chose, which transelates as: to ask somebody to do something​ You can also use  prier  to mean beg, such as in this example: Je vous en prie, ne me laissez pas seule. This translates into English literally as: Dont leave me alone, I beg you. However, in conversational English, this sentence would more likely be translated as: Please do not leave me alone. Using the table, youll see that this conjugation—je  prie—could be the present tense and/or the  subjunctive  mood. In French, the subjunctive  mood  expresses subjectivity and unreality. It is used with actions or ideas that are subjective or otherwise uncertain, such as will or wanting, emotion, doubt, possibility, necessity, and judgment. In this case, the speaker is asking or begging, someone else not to leave her alone. It is uncertain whether the other person will stay with the speaker. (The speaker would not be making this request if she knew the answer.) Thus, the subjunctive,  je prie, is the appropriate conjugation.