Conduire is the verb to drive — but it is much more. It is also "to lead," "to guide," "to take someone somewhere," and figuratively "to lead to" (a result, a conclusion). It is the prototype of an entire family of verbs ending in -uire: construire (build), traduire (translate), produire (produce), détruire (destroy), réduire (reduce), séduire (seduce), induire (induce), cuire (cook), nuire (harm), reluire (shine). All conjugate identically. Master conduire and you have a dozen high-frequency verbs.
The defining feature is the stem alternation: singular forms drop the -s- (je conduis, but pronounced /kɔ̃dɥi/ — silent s), plural forms restore a full -uis- stem with the -s- now pronounced /z/ (nous conduisons /kɔ̃dɥizɔ̃/). The same alternation propagates through the imparfait, subjonctif, and passé simple. The past participle is conduit — ending in -t, like the entire family (construit, traduit, produit, détruit).
This page is the full reference: every paradigm, the -uire family with its one renegade (nui, not nuit), the four major use-clusters, and the idioms.
The defining alternation: condui- vs conduis-
The stem of conduire alternates between two forms:
- Singular present (and imperative tu): stem condui-. The final s of conduis and conduit is silent. Je conduis /kɔ̃dɥi/, il conduit /kɔ̃dɥi/.
- Plural present, imparfait, passé simple, subjonctif, participe présent: stem conduis-. The s is now pronounced /z/ between vowels. Nous conduisons /kɔ̃dɥizɔ̃/, je conduisais /kɔ̃dɥizɛ/.
This alternation is consistent across the entire -uire family. The infinitive ends in -uire; the long stem is -uis-; the past participle is -uit.
The simple tenses
Présent de l'indicatif
The stem alternation: condui- in the singular, conduis- in the plural.
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | conduis | /kɔ̃dɥi/ |
| tu | conduis | /kɔ̃dɥi/ |
| il / elle / on | conduit | /kɔ̃dɥi/ |
| nous | conduisons | /kɔ̃dɥizɔ̃/ |
| vous | conduisez | /kɔ̃dɥize/ |
| ils / elles | conduisent | /kɔ̃dɥiz/ |
Notice that je conduis, tu conduis, and il conduit are all pronounced identically: /kɔ̃dɥi/. The s and t at the end are silent. Only spelling distinguishes them.
Je conduis depuis l'âge de dix-huit ans, ça fait vingt ans.
I've been driving since I was eighteen — that's twenty years.
Tu conduis trop vite, ralentis !
You're driving too fast, slow down!
Elle conduit une vieille Twingo qu'elle adore.
She drives an old Twingo that she adores.
Nous conduisons à tour de rôle pendant les longs trajets.
We take turns driving on long trips.
Mes parents conduisent encore très bien à leur âge.
My parents still drive very well at their age.
Imparfait
Built on the nous stem conduis- + regular endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | conduisais |
| tu | conduisais |
| il / elle / on | conduisait |
| nous | conduisions |
| vous | conduisiez |
| ils / elles | conduisaient |
Quand j'étais étudiant, je conduisais une vieille 4L.
When I was a student, I used to drive an old Renault 4.
Mon père conduisait toujours pendant les vacances, il aimait ça.
My father always drove during vacations — he liked it.
Passé simple (literary)
The -is pattern with the long stem, with circumflex on nous / vous.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | conduisis |
| tu | conduisis |
| il / elle / on | conduisit |
| nous | conduisîmes |
| vous | conduisîtes |
| ils / elles | conduisirent |
Le chauffeur conduisit la délégation à l'hôtel sans incident.
The driver took the delegation to the hotel without incident. (literary)
Cette décision les conduisit à la ruine.
That decision led them to ruin. (literary)
Futur simple
Stem conduir- (drop the -e of the infinitive, keep conduir-), regular endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | conduirai |
| tu | conduiras |
| il / elle / on | conduira |
| nous | conduirons |
| vous | conduirez |
| ils / elles | conduiront |
Note: the s of conduis- is dropped in the futur stem — conduirai, not conduisirai. This is the same pattern as dire → dirai.
Je te conduirai à l'aéroport demain matin.
I'll drive you to the airport tomorrow morning.
Cette voie nous conduira directement au centre-ville.
This road will take us straight to the city center.
Conditionnel présent
Same stem conduir-, with imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | conduirais |
| tu | conduirais |
| il / elle / on | conduirait |
| nous | conduirions |
| vous | conduiriez |
| ils / elles | conduiraient |
Je te conduirais bien, mais je n'ai pas mon permis sur moi.
I'd drive you, but I don't have my license on me.
Une telle politique conduirait le pays au désastre.
Such a policy would lead the country to disaster.
Subjonctif présent
The same conduis- stem with the regular subjunctive endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | conduise |
| (que) tu | conduises |
| (qu')il / elle / on | conduise |
| (que) nous | conduisions |
| (que) vous | conduisiez |
| (qu')ils / elles | conduisent |
The nous / vous subjunctive forms (conduisions, conduisiez) are spelled identically to the imparfait. Context disambiguates.
Il faut que tu conduises plus prudemment.
You need to drive more carefully.
Je préfère que ce soit toi qui conduises ce soir.
I'd rather you be the one to drive tonight.
Impératif
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | conduis |
| (nous) | conduisons |
| (vous) | conduisez |
Conduis prudemment, il y a du verglas sur la route.
Drive carefully, there's black ice on the road.
Conduisez-moi à l'hôpital, vite !
Take me to the hospital, quick!
Participles and gérondif
- Participe passé: conduit / feminine conduite / plurals conduits, conduites
- Participe présent: conduisant
- Gérondif: en conduisant
Ne téléphone pas en conduisant.
Don't talk on the phone while driving.
La voiture conduite par mon collègue est tombée en panne.
The car driven by my colleague broke down.
The participle conduit / conduite is also a noun: la conduite means "driving" (the activity) or "behavior, conduct."
Sa conduite sur la route laisse à désirer.
His driving on the road leaves something to be desired.
The compound tenses
Conduire takes avoir as its auxiliary, even though it can suggest motion. It is transitive (you drive a car, you take someone), and transitive verbs in French take avoir. Past participle: conduit.
Passé composé
avoir (présent) + conduit
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| j' | ai conduit |
| tu | as conduit |
| il / elle / on | a conduit |
| nous | avons conduit |
| vous | avez conduit |
| ils / elles | ont conduit |
J'ai conduit pendant huit heures sans pause, j'étais épuisé.
I drove for eight hours without a break — I was exhausted.
Tu as conduit toute la nuit ? Tu es fou !
You drove all night? You're crazy!
Past participle agreement with avoir on a preceding direct object:
La voiture que j'ai conduite était une location.
The car I drove was a rental.
Les invités qu'elle a conduits étaient ravis.
The guests she drove (around) were delighted.
Plus-que-parfait
avoir (imparfait) + conduit
J'avais conduit toute la journée, je n'en pouvais plus.
I'd driven all day — I couldn't take any more.
Futur antérieur
avoir (futur) + conduit
Quand tu liras ce message, j'aurai déjà conduit jusqu'à Lyon.
By the time you read this message, I'll have already driven to Lyon.
Conditionnel passé
avoir (conditionnel) + conduit
J'aurais conduit moi-même si on m'avait laissé faire.
I would have driven myself if they'd let me.
Subjonctif passé
avoir (subjonctif) + conduit
C'est bizarre que personne n'ait conduit hier soir.
It's strange that no one drove last night.
Core uses
1. Conduire (un véhicule) — drive a vehicle
The default sense. Note the absence of a preposition: conduire une voiture, conduire un camion — direct object, no à. (English speakers sometimes try conduire à une voiture, which is wrong.)
Tu sais conduire une moto ?
Do you know how to ride a motorbike?
Mon grand-père a conduit des camions toute sa vie.
My grandfather drove trucks his whole life.
Apprendre à conduire en ville, c'est stressant.
Learning to drive in the city is stressful.
Note the verb covers both cars and any other vehicle — conduire un bus, conduire un tracteur, conduire une moto. For aircraft, piloter is more standard.
2. Conduire quelqu'un quelque part — take/drive someone somewhere
The verb takes a direct object person plus a destination. This is the standard way to say "give someone a ride / drop someone off."
Je vais conduire les enfants à l'école.
I'm going to drive the kids to school.
Tu peux me conduire à la gare demain matin ?
Can you drive me to the station tomorrow morning?
Elle a conduit ses parents à l'aéroport très tôt.
She drove her parents to the airport very early.
A useful idiom: raccompagner quelqu'un (escort/walk someone home) overlaps with conduire but specifies the return-home sense.
3. Conduire à — lead to, result in (figurative)
A high-frequency figurative use. Conduire à + noun (or infinitive) = "to lead to, to result in."
Cette politique conduit à des inégalités croissantes.
This policy leads to growing inequalities.
Ce raisonnement nous conduit à une conclusion troublante.
This reasoning leads us to a troubling conclusion.
Les preuves conduisent à penser qu'il est innocent.
The evidence leads us to think he's innocent.
The construction conduire à + infinitif — "lead to (do)" — is especially common in formal and academic writing.
4. Conduire in the sense of "lead, guide" (formal)
Closer to the literal Latin ducere (to lead). Used for guiding a group, leading a delegation, conducting an investigation.
Le guide nous a conduits à travers les ruines.
The guide led us through the ruins.
Elle conduit l'enquête depuis le début.
She's been leading the investigation from the start.
Le chef d'orchestre conduit la symphonie avec passion.
The conductor leads the symphony with passion.
The noun conducteur / conductrice means both "driver" and (in formal context) "leader."
5. Se conduire — to behave
The pronominal se conduire means "to behave (in a particular way)." Always with an adverb of manner (bien, mal, comme un idiot).
Il se conduit comme un imbécile depuis qu'il a bu.
He's been acting like an idiot ever since he drank.
Conduis-toi bien chez ta grand-mère !
Behave yourself at your grandmother's!
Elle s'est très bien conduite pendant l'épreuve.
She conducted herself very well during the ordeal.
High-frequency idioms and collocations
- conduire prudemment / dangereusement — drive carefully / dangerously
- conduire en état d'ivresse — drive under the influence
- conduire à contresens — drive the wrong way
- passer son permis de conduire — take one's driving test
- avoir le permis de conduire — have a driver's license
- conduire à la ruine / à l'échec — lead to ruin / failure
- un fil conducteur — a guiding thread (in a story or argument)
- conduire les opérations — be in charge of operations
- se laisser conduire — let oneself be led / be passive
- conduire sa barque — manage one's affairs (literally: "steer one's boat")
J'ai passé mon permis de conduire à dix-neuf ans, à la deuxième tentative.
I got my driver's license at nineteen, on my second try.
Le fil conducteur de ce roman, c'est la mémoire.
The guiding thread of this novel is memory.
Il sait conduire sa barque, ne t'inquiète pas pour lui.
He knows how to manage his affairs — don't worry about him.
The -uire family
These verbs all conjugate identically — same alternation, same -uit past participle (with one exception, nui).
| Verb | Meaning | Past participle | Present (je / nous) |
|---|---|---|---|
| conduire | drive, lead | conduit | je conduis / nous conduisons |
| construire | build, construct | construit | je construis / nous construisons |
| détruire | destroy | détruit | je détruis / nous détruisons |
| traduire | translate | traduit | je traduis / nous traduisons |
| produire | produce | produit | je produis / nous produisons |
| reproduire | reproduce | reproduit | je reproduis / nous reproduisons |
| introduire | introduce, insert | introduit | j'introduis / nous introduisons |
| réduire | reduce | réduit | je réduis / nous réduisons |
| déduire | deduce, deduct | déduit | je déduis / nous déduisons |
| séduire | seduce, charm | séduit | je séduis / nous séduisons |
| induire | induce, lead (in error) | induit | j'induis / nous induisons |
| instruire | instruct, educate | instruit | j'instruis / nous instruisons |
| cuire | cook (food) | cuit | je cuis / nous cuisons |
| reluire | shine, gleam | relui | je reluis / nous reluisons |
| nuire | harm, damage | nui (not nuit!) | je nuis / nous nuisons |
The renegade: nuire. Almost every -uire verb has past participle -uit (conduit, traduit, construit, séduit, produit). But nuire (to harm) and luire/reluire (to shine) have past participles in -ui (no t): nui, lui, relui. So il a nui à sa réputation (he harmed his reputation), not il a nuit. The reason is etymological — nuire and luire descend from a different Latin pattern. Memorize them as exceptions.
Cette nouvelle a nui à sa carrière.
That news harmed his career. (NOT: a nuit)
Le sol a relui après le polissage.
The floor shone after the polishing. (NOT: a reluit)
Comparison with English
Three friction points:
English "drive" is intransitive (he drives well) or transitive (he drives a car); French conduire is normally transitive. Je conduis (I drive — followed by an implied object) works in modern colloquial French, but je conduis bien (I drive well) is more idiomatic. Don't confuse with English-influenced je drive.
"Drive someone somewhere" maps directly to conduire quelqu'un quelque part. No preposition before the person. Je l'ai conduit à la gare, not je l'ai conduit jusqu'à la gare (which is also possible but emphatic).
The figurative "lead to" is conduire à, with the preposition à. Conduire vers exists but is rarer and slightly more spatial. For "this leads to that," default to conduire à.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Past participle conduisi or conduisé.
❌ J'ai conduisé pendant six heures.
Wrong — past participle is *conduit*. The whole *-uire* family takes *-uit* (with the renegade exceptions of *nui* and *lui*).
✅ J'ai conduit pendant six heures.
I drove for six hours.
Mistake 2: Forgetting the stem alternation in the plural.
❌ Nous conduions tous les jours.
Wrong — the long stem *conduis-* must appear in the plural: *nous conduisons*.
✅ Nous conduisons tous les jours.
We drive every day.
Mistake 3: Past participle nuit for nuire.
❌ Cette polémique a nuit à son image.
Wrong — *nuire* has the irregular past participle *nui*, with no *t*. (One of the few exceptions in the *-uire* family.)
✅ Cette polémique a nui à son image.
That controversy hurt his image.
Mistake 4: Adding a preposition before the vehicle.
❌ Je conduis à une voiture.
Wrong — *conduire* is transitive, no preposition: *je conduis une voiture*.
✅ Je conduis une voiture.
I drive a car.
Mistake 5: Using être in compound tenses.
❌ Je suis conduit ma fille à l'école.
Wrong — *conduire* is transitive and takes *avoir*. The pronominal *se conduire* (behave) does take *être*.
✅ J'ai conduit ma fille à l'école.
I drove my daughter to school.
Mistake 6: Forgetting agreement with the past participle.
❌ La voiture que j'ai conduit était neuve.
Wrong — *avoir* + preceding feminine direct object triggers agreement: *conduite*.
✅ La voiture que j'ai conduite était neuve.
The car I drove was new.
Key takeaways
Conduire means "to drive," "to lead," "to take someone somewhere," and figuratively "to lead to (a result)." It is the prototype of the entire -uire family — construire, traduire, produire, détruire, réduire, séduire — all of which conjugate identically.
The defining mechanic is the stem alternation: short stem condui- in singular present (silent -s), long stem conduis- everywhere else (with audible /z/ between vowels). The futur stem is conduir- (drop the -s-): je conduirai. The past participle is conduit (with -t), which is the family signature.
Auxiliary in compound tenses is avoir — conduire is transitive, even when it suggests motion. The pronominal se conduire means "to behave" and takes être (il s'est mal conduit).
Beware the renegade past participles in the family: nuire and luire/reluire end in -ui without the t (il a nui à sa réputation; le sol a lui). Every other -uire verb takes -uit.
The verb covers literal driving, taking people places (je te conduis à l'aéroport), figurative leading-to (cette politique conduit à l'échec), and formal leading/guiding (conduire une délégation). It is one of the most rewarding verbs to master, since the entire -uire family unlocks at once.
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