Partir: Complete Paradigm Reference

This is the complete paradigm reference for partir — every simple tense, every compound tense, every mood, including the literary forms (partis, partît, partissent, fût parti) that you will rarely produce but must recognize when reading. The everyday treatment of partir — the partir/sortir/quitter contrast, the prepositions (partir à, partir pour, partir en), the colloquial partir + infinitive construction — lives at verb-reference/partir. This page is for the moments when you need to look up a form, including the obscure ones.

Partir is the prototype of an entire irregular family — verbs whose stem drops a final consonant in the singular but restores it in the plural. The members of this family are partir, sortir, dormir, sentir, mentir, servir, repartir, ressortir. They share a single template: the singular forms use a truncated stem, the plural forms use the full stem, and compound tenses are split between être (intransitive partir, sortir, repartir) and avoir (transitive sortir, sentir, servir, dormir, mentir). Once you internalize the partir paradigm, you have ~10 verbs at no extra cost.

Etymology: Latin partire

French partir descends from Latin partīre ("to divide, to share, to depart"). The original "divide" meaning survives in partir un héritage (formal: "to divide an inheritance") and in derived nouns like partage ("sharing") and parti ("political party, side"). The "depart" meaning, originally a metaphorical extension ("to take one's part of the way"), became dominant in French while Spanish partir and Italian partire preserve both senses more equally.

The 3rd-group conjugation pattern reflects Latin 3rd-declension verb morphology: short, stem-changing forms in the singular present, longer forms in the plural. The same pattern shapes dormire → dors/dormons, servire → sers/servons, sentire → sens/sentons.

The partir family

The verbs that conjugate exactly like partir:

Notice that sortir is split: when intransitive ("to go out") it takes être like partir; when transitive ("to take something out") it takes avoir like dormir. This is one of the most consequential auxiliary splits in French.

Simple tenses: complete paradigms

Présent de l'indicatif

The signature pattern: the singular drops the consonant t of the plural stem (part- → par- in singular), while the plural restores it. The 3sg ending -t is silent.

The three singular forms pars, pars, part are all pronounced /paʁ/ — three homophones distinguished only in writing. The 3pl partent /paʁt/ restores the t. The contrast 3sg /paʁ/ vs 3pl /paʁt/ is the only audible signal of singular-vs-plural in spoken French — the pronoun (il vs ils) is silent in both cases.

This pattern is not the same as the finir family (2nd group), which inserts -iss- in the plural (nous finissons). Partir, sortir, dormir never insert -iss-: nous partons, never nous partissons.

Imparfait

Built on the part- stem (from nous partons) plus the regular imparfait endings. Fully predictable.

Passé simple (literary)

The passé simple of partir is regular for the 3rd-group -ir pattern: stem part- + endings -is, -is, -it, -îmes, -îtes, -irent. Used in literary writing — almost never spoken.

The circumflex on partîmes and partîtes is obligatory — it marks the long vowel and historically descends from a lost -s- (medieval parti(s)mes). The 1990 spelling reform makes the circumflex optional on i and u in many words, but it is kept on the 1pl/2pl of the passé simple and subjonctif imparfait to disambiguate from other forms.

A pronunciation note: partit (3sg passé simple, /paʁ.ti/) is distinct from part-il (interrogative inversion, /paʁ.til/) — but both share the part- stem. Context disambiguates.

Futur simple

Built on the infinitive partir + the regular futur endings. Fully predictable — no irregular stem.

Conditionnel présent

Same infinitive-based stem as the futur, with imparfait endings.

Subjonctif présent

Built on the part- stem + regular subjunctive endings. Note that the 1pl and 2pl forms (partions, partiez) are identical to the imparfait of the indicative — context disambiguates.

The 3sg subjunctive qu'il parte /paʁt/ is audibly different from the 3sg indicative il part /paʁ/ — the subjunctive restores the final t. This audible distinction is unusual in French; for most verbs the indicative-subjunctive contrast is invisible in speech.

Subjonctif imparfait (literary)

Built on the parti- stem of the passé simple, with the standard subjunctive-imparfait endings -sse, -sses, -̂t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent (the 3sg drops -sse and adds a circumflex on the stem vowel instead). Used almost exclusively in literary writing.

The 3sg partît takes a circumflex — without it, the form would collide with the passé simple partit. The two are pronounced identically /paʁ.ti/ but distinguished in writing by the circumflex on the subjunctive imparfait. This is the most likely 3rd-group subjunctive imparfait to appear in modern literary writing.

Impératif

Three forms, derived from the present indicative. The 2sg form is pars (with the s, unlike -er verbs that drop the s).

A subtle point: unlike aller → va (no s) and parler → parle (no s), 3rd-group -ir verbs keep the -s in the imperative tu form. Pars, not par. The reason is morphological: the -s of pars is part of the singular-stem ending, not a personal marker that the imperative would drop.

Participles and gérondif

The participe passé parti agrees with the subject in compound tenses (because partir takes être as auxiliary). The four forms — parti, partie, partis, parties — agree for masculine/feminine singular and plural. Pronunciation is identical /paʁ.ti/ in all four — the agreement is visible only in writing.

Compound tenses: complete paradigms

Partir is a maison-d'être verb. All compound tenses are formed with être + parti(e)(s). The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number — never with a direct object (because partir in this sense is intransitive).

Passé composé

être (présent) + parti(e)(s)

The agreement is with the subject, not with any object. Elles sont parties — the -es on parties agrees with the feminine plural subject elles. This is the être-auxiliary rule for the maison-d'être verbs.

Plus-que-parfait

être (imparfait) + parti(e)(s)

Passé antérieur (literary)

être (passé simple) + parti(e)(s)

Used in literary narrative after temporal conjunctions (dès qu'il fut parti...) — encountered in 19th-century novels.

Futur antérieur

être (futur) + parti(e)(s)

Conditionnel passé

être (conditionnel) + parti(e)(s)

Subjonctif passé

être (subjonctif) + parti(e)(s)

Plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (literary)

être (subjonctif imparfait) + parti(e)(s)

Pronunciation notes

Three points are worth memorizing.

1. Singular pars/pars/part are all /paʁ/. Three homophones distinguished only in writing. The 3pl partent /paʁt/ restores the t — the only audible signal of singular vs. plural in 3rd person.

2. The participle parti and its agreement variants partie, partis, parties are all pronounced /paʁ.ti/. Agreement is invisible in speech for this verb.

3. The 3sg subjunctive qu'il parte /paʁt/ is audibly different from the 3sg indicative il part /paʁ/. The subjunctive ending -e triggers the t to be pronounced, restoring the consonant that the indicative singular drops.

Comparison with English

Three friction points worth restating in a paradigm reference.

1. Compound tenses use être, with subject agreement. Je suis partie (feminine speaker) — the -e on partie agrees with the subject. English has no parallel; the past participle never agrees in English.

2. The indicative-subjunctive distinction is sometimes audible. Il part /paʁ/ (indicative, 3sg) vs qu'il parte /paʁt/ (subjunctive, 3sg) — the consonant t surfaces in the subjunctive. For many verbs the contrast is invisible; for partir, dormir, sortir, sentir, mentir, servir it's audible because the singular indicative drops the consonant.

3. The imperative pars keeps the -s. Unlike parle (no -s) or va (no -s), the 3rd-group -ir imperatives preserve the -s of the singular stem. Pars devant, never par devant.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Using avoir in compound tenses.

Mistake 2: Forgetting subject agreement on the participle.

Mistake 3: Inserting -iss- in the plural by analogy with finir.

Mistake 4: Confusing partir, sortir, quitter.

Mistake 5: Using partir where sortir is expected.

Mistake 6: Spelling partit (passé simple) instead of partît (subjonctif imparfait) in formal writing.

Key takeaways

Partir is the prototype of an entire 3rd-group -ir family: partir, sortir, dormir, sentir, mentir, servir, repartir. The pattern: singular drops the final consonant of the plural stem (pars/part-), plural restores it (partons). No -iss- insertion (unlike the finir family).

In compound tenses, partir uses être as auxiliary and the participle parti agrees with the subject in gender and number: je suis parti (m), je suis partie (f), nous sommes partis (m pl), elles sont parties (f pl). The agreement is visible only in writing — pronunciation /paʁ.ti/ is identical for all four.

The 3sg partît in the literary subjunctive imparfait carries an obligatory circumflex that distinguishes it from the passé simple partit. The same circumflex appears on the 1pl/2pl partîmes, partîtes of the passé simple.

The imperative tu form keeps the -s (pars, not par) — unlike -er verbs that drop it. The 3sg subjunctive qu'il parte /paʁt/ is audibly different from the 3sg indicative il part /paʁ/ because the subjunctive restores the consonant.

This page is the paradigm reference. For the everyday usage — the partir/sortir/quitter contrast, the prepositions (partir à, partir pour, partir en, partir de), and the colloquial partir + infinitive construction (je pars chercher du pain) — see verb-reference/partir.