Étudier: Full Verb Reference

Étudier is the verb to study. It is a regular -er verb of the 1er groupe — the same conjugation template as parler, aimer, and travailler — but its infinitive ends in -ier, and that single i before the ending is what creates the most famous spelling trap in French regular verbs: the double-i in nous étudiions and vous étudiiez (imparfait and subjunctive). Drop the second i and you have written nous étudions — which is the present, not the imparfait. One i equals one tense.

Beyond the orthographic trap, étudier is unspectacular: stem stays étudi-, all endings are standard, the auxiliary in compound tenses is avoir, and the verb is straightforwardly transitive — étudier le français, étudier la philosophie. This page is the full reference. The depth is not in the conjugation but in the spelling watchpoints, the prepositions (étudier à vs étudier dans), and the contrast with apprendre (which is what English to learn often calls for).

The simple tenses

These are the tenses formed without an auxiliary. Étudier is fully regular — no stem changes, no orthographic adjustments at nous étudions, no surprises. The watchpoint is the i of the infinitive: it survives into every form, and it interacts with the i of the imparfait and subjunctive endings to produce the double-i.

Présent de l'indicatif

Standard -er endings on the étudi- stem.

The 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, and 3pl forms are pronounced identically (/etydi/) — the four endings -e, -es, -e, -ent are silent. Only nous étudions /etydjɔ̃/ and vous étudiez /etydje/ are heard distinctly. This is the typical -er pattern.

Important elision: je becomes j' before étudie (vowel-initial), ne becomes n', que becomes qu'. The leading é- of étudier always triggers elision.

Imparfait

Built on the étudi- stem with the regular imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. This is where the double-i appears: at nous étudiions and vous étudiiez, the i of the stem meets the i of the ending and you write both.

The double-i is purely orthographic — both forms are still pronounced /etydjɔ̃/ and /etydje/, the same as the present nous étudions and vous étudiez. But in writing, nous étudions (present) and nous étudiions (imparfait) differ by one letter, and that letter changes the tense entirely. Native speakers slip up on this constantly; learners almost always under-write it.

Passé simple (literary)

Regular 1er-groupe pattern: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent. Two diacritic alarms: the circumflex on nous étudiâmes and vous étudiâtes, and the grave accent on ils étudièrent (3pl ending is -èrent, never -érent).

Futur simple

Stem: the full infinitive étudier-, plus standard endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.

A second pronunciation note: in étudierai, the e before the r is often muted in fast speech (/etydʁe/ rather than /etydiʁe/), but in writing the e is mandatory.

Conditionnel présent

Same étudier- base with imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Subjonctif présent

Standard subjunctive endings on the étudi- stem. The double-i reappears here too: que nous étudiions, que vous étudiiez — exactly as in the imparfait.

In modern French, the imparfait nous étudiions and the subjunctive que nous étudiions are spelled and pronounced identically. The same goes for vous étudiiez. Context — and the presence of que — distinguishes them.

Impératif

Three forms. Note the spelling: the tu imperative of -er verbs drops the -s — so étudie, not étudies. This is the standard -er rule that distinguishes the imperative from the indicative tu étudies.

Participles and gérondif

• Participe passé: étudié (agrees with preceding direct object when avoir is auxiliary)
• Participe présent: étudiant (also a noun: un étudiant = a student)
• Gérondif: en étudiant

The form étudiant is one of the rare cases where a French present participle has an active life as a noun: un étudiant, une étudiante means "a student" (specifically a university student — for younger learners, French uses un élève).

The compound tenses

Étudier uses avoir as its auxiliary in all compound tenses.

Passé composé

avoir (présent) + étudié

Plus-que-parfait

avoir (imparfait) + étudié

Futur antérieur

avoir (futur) + étudié

Conditionnel passé

avoir (conditionnel) + étudié

Subjonctif passé

avoir (subjonctif) + étudié

The major uses

1. Étudier + direct object — to study (something)

The default construction. Étudier is transitive: the subject of study is a direct object, with no preposition.

The English-French mismatch: English study sometimes goes with for (study for an exam), and French has no equivalent — you simply say étudier (pour): étudier pour son examen. But for the subject matter itself, no preposition: étudier le français, never étudier au français.

2. Étudier à — to study at (an institution)

For the place of study (university, school, institute), French uses étudier à + the institution.

For cities, the same à works: étudier à Paris, à Lyon, à Montréal. For countries, the rules differ — en France, au Canada, aux États-Unis — following the standard country-preposition rules.

3. Étudier in a careful, examining sense

Beyond academic study, étudier covers careful examination — reviewing, scrutinizing, considering. This is a common bureaucratic and journalistic use.

This bureaucratic étudier is roughly equivalent to English to look into, to examine, to consider. It's neutral-to-formal register; in casual speech, regarder or voir is more common (on va voir si c'est possible).

Étudier vs apprendre vs travailler

Three verbs in this neighborhood — and English study/learn doesn't divide the territory the same way:

• étudier — to engage with subject matter intellectually (university course, school subject, careful examination of a document)
• apprendre — to acquire knowledge or skill (you might étudier the piano for years, but apprendre à jouer du piano — learn to play it)
• travailler — colloquially used as "study/work on" especially for school (travailler ses maths, travailler son anglais)

In everyday speech, French speakers very often use travailler where English would use study: je travaille mes maths ce soir (I'm studying my math tonight). Étudier sounds slightly more formal, more academic. For the active acquisition of a skill, apprendre dominates: j'apprends le français (I'm learning French) — though j'étudie le français is also acceptable.

Comparison with English

Three friction points:

1. Étudier is transitive. English to study takes a direct object (study French), and French agrees: étudier le français — no preposition. But English speakers sometimes import patterns like study about (which is non-standard in English too) or study at the subject — both wrong. Étudier takes the subject directly: étudier l'histoire, étudier la philosophie.

2. The double-i in nous étudiions / vous étudiiez. English has nothing like this. The fact that nous étudions (present) and nous étudiions (imparfait) differ by one silent letter is unique to French -ier verbs. Native speakers themselves get this wrong; learners must check it consciously.

3. Différence with to learn. English to study French and to learn French are near-synonyms; French distinguishes them. Étudier is engaging with material; apprendre is acquiring competence. J'étudie le français en classe (I'm studying French in class — engagement) versus j'apprends le français (I'm learning French — acquisition). For active skill-building, prefer apprendre.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Dropping the second i in the imparfait/subjunctive.

Mistake 2: Adding a preposition before the subject of study.

Mistake 3: Confusing étudier with apprendre for skill-acquisition.

Mistake 4: Forgetting elision before étudie.

Mistake 5: Keeping the -s on the tu imperative.

Key takeaways

Étudier is a fully regular -er verb meaning to study (academic engagement) and, by extension, to examine carefully (in formal/bureaucratic register). In compound tenses it takes avoir: j'ai étudié, j'avais étudié, j'aurai étudié.

The single thing to remember in writing is the double-i in nous étudiions and vous étudiiez — both in the imparfait and in the present subjunctive. The same rule applies to all -ier verbs: apprécier, oublier, crier, plier, copier, vérifier. One i is the present; two *i*s is the imparfait or subjunctive. They are pronounced identically but written differently.

In construction, étudier takes a direct object (étudier le français), with à for the institution (étudier à la Sorbonne) and the standard country prepositions (en France, au Canada). For acquiring a skill rather than engaging with a subject, prefer apprendre: j'apprends à conduire, not j'étudie à conduire. In casual school-context speech, travailler often replaces étudier (je travaille mes maths) — both are correct, but travailler sounds more colloquial.