Focus on French Verbs: comprendre

The French verb comprendre most often means "to understand." You can use it when you understand a person, a language, an explanation, an idea, or a situation.

French	English
Je comprends la question.	I understand the question.

Comprendre can also mean "to include" or "to comprise" when describing the parts or members of a larger whole:

French	English
Le prix comprend le petit-déjeuner.	The price includes breakfast.

Most everyday uses of comprendre take a direct object, which makes its basic construction straightforward.

Conjugation

Comprendre is an irregular -re verb conjugated like prendre. Its present-tense forms include je comprends, nous comprenons, and ils comprennent, and its past participle is compris.

See comprendre for all tenses and forms.

Comprendre + noun: understanding something

Use comprendre + noun when you understand an idea, explanation, question, situation, or other thing:

French	English
Je comprends la question.	I understand the question.
Elle comprend le problème.	She understands the problem.
Nous comprenons votre décision.	We understand your decision.
Je comprends les instructions.	I understand the instructions.
Je comprends la situation.	I understand the situation.

The basic pattern is:

comprendre + noun

No preposition is required between comprendre and its direct object.

Understanding a person

A person can also be the direct object of comprendre:

French	English
Je te comprends.	I understand you.
Elle ne comprend pas son professeur.	She doesn't understand her teacher.
Je comprends pourquoi tu es inquiet.	I understand why you're worried.

This can refer to understanding what someone says, but it can also mean understanding someone's feelings, behavior, or point of view. In a sentence such as Je te comprends, context tells you whether the speaker means "I understand what you're saying" or the broader "I understand you."

Understanding a language

Use comprendre to say that you understand a language or understand what is being said in that language:

French	English
Je comprends le français.	I understand French.
Vous comprenez l'anglais ?	Do you understand English?
Je comprends un peu le français, mais je ne le parle pas bien.	I understand a little French, but I don't speak it well.

Understanding a language is not the same as being able to speak it. This distinction makes comprendre particularly useful when describing language ability.

Comprendre que + clause

Use comprendre que when what someone understands is expressed as a complete clause:

French	English
Je comprends que tu es fatigué.	I understand that you're tired.
Elle comprend que la situation est difficile.	She understands that the situation is difficult.

The pattern is:

comprendre que + clause

When comprendre simply states that someone understands or realizes a fact, the following clause normally uses the indicative.

Compare:

French	English
Je comprends le problème.	I understand the problem.
Je comprends que nous avons un problème.	I understand that we have a problem.

The first takes a noun as its object. The second expresses what is understood as a clause.

Comprendre pourquoi, comment, and ce que

Comprendre commonly introduces an indirect question with words such as pourquoi, comment, and ce que:

French	English
Je comprends pourquoi elle est partie.	I understand why she left.
Tu comprends comment ça marche ?	Do you understand how it works?
Je ne comprends pas ce que tu veux dire.	I don't understand what you mean.
Je ne comprends pas où il va.	I don't understand where he's going.

These are especially useful patterns because they allow you to describe exactly what someone does or does not understand.

Je ne comprends pas

One of the most useful expressions for a French learner is simply:

French	English
Je ne comprends pas.	I don't understand.
Je ne comprends pas la question.	I don't understand the question.
Je ne comprends pas ce mot.	I don't understand this word.
Je ne comprends pas ce que vous dites.	I don't understand what you're saying.

In conversation, Je ne comprends pas is a natural way to signal that you need clarification.

Comprendre: to include or comprise

Comprendre also has a second important meaning: to include, contain, or comprise:

French	English
Le prix comprend le petit-déjeuner.	The price includes breakfast.
Le groupe comprend dix personnes.	The group includes ten people.
Le programme comprend trois parties.	The program comprises three parts.

In this use, comprendre is not about understanding. It describes what is contained within a larger whole. The grammatical pattern remains comprendre + direct object. Context usually makes the meaning clear.

Compare:

French	English
Je comprends le programme.	I understand the program.
Le programme comprend trois parties.	The program includes three parts.

The same French verb appears in both sentences, but the subject and context produce different meanings.

Y compris

The expression y compris means including:

French	English
Tout le monde est venu, y compris Paul.	Everyone came, including Paul.
Le prix couvre tous les repas, y compris le petit-déjeuner.	The price covers all meals, including breakfast.

This expression is related to the "include" meaning of comprendre and is useful in both spoken and written French. You can learn y compris as a complete expression rather than trying to interpret compris as "understood" in this context.

Se faire comprendre

A useful expression built around comprendre is se faire comprendre, meaning to make oneself understood:

French	English
J'arrive à me faire comprendre en français.	I manage to make myself understood in French.
Il parle lentement pour se faire comprendre.	He speaks slowly to make himself understood.

This is especially useful when talking about language ability. Someone may not speak perfectly but can still se faire comprendre.

se faire comprendre — to make oneself understood

Faire comprendre quelque chose à quelqu'un

Faire comprendre can also mean to make someone understand or to get something across to someone:

French	English
J'essaie de lui faire comprendre le problème.	I'm trying to make him/her understand the problem.
Elle m'a fait comprendre que je devais partir.	She made it clear to me that I had to leave.

A useful pattern is:

faire comprendre quelque chose à quelqu'un

The English translation can vary. Depending on context, faire comprendre may mean "make someone understand," "explain," "get across," or "make clear."

Common expressions with comprendre

Several useful expressions and constructions use comprendre:

comprendre quelque chose — to understand something
comprendre quelqu'un — to understand someone
comprendre que + clause — to understand that…
comprendre pourquoi / comment… — to understand why / how…
ne pas comprendre — not to understand
comprendre quelque chose — to include something
y compris — including
se faire comprendre — to make oneself understood
faire comprendre quelque chose à quelqu'un — to make someone understand something

The two meanings of comprendre — understand and include — are usually easy to distinguish from context.

Common mistakes with comprendre

Don't add a preposition before the thing you understand

Comprendre normally takes its object directly:

French	English
Je comprends la question.	I understand the question.
Je comprends ton problème.	I understand your problem.

There is no à or de between comprendre and its object.

Don't confuse comprendre with connaître

Both verbs can sometimes correspond loosely to English "know," but they express different ideas:

French	English
Je comprends cette règle.	I understand this rule.
Je connais cette règle.	I know this rule / I'm familiar with this rule.

Comprendre focuses on understanding meaning, reasoning, or how something works. Connaître focuses on knowing or being familiar with someone or something.

Remember that compris does not always mean "understood"

The past participle compris appears in expressions related to inclusion:

French	English
petit-déjeuner compris	breakfast included
y compris les enfants	including the children

Context determines whether compris is related to understanding or inclusion.

Watch the plural present form

The singular forms use comprend-:

Form	Example
je comprends	Je comprends.
tu comprends	Tu comprends ?
il comprend	Il comprend.

But the third-person plural is ils comprennent. The doubled n reflects the same conjugation pattern found in prendre.

Comprendre vs savoir

Comprendre means to understand an idea, explanation, situation, or meaning:

French	English
Je comprends la règle.	I understand the rule.

Savoir means to know a fact or know how to do something:

French	English
Je sais la réponse.	I know the answer.
Je sais nager.	I know how to swim.
Je sais que c'est vrai, mais je ne comprends pas pourquoi.	I know it's true, but I don't understand why.

You can know something without fully understanding it.

Comprendre vs connaître

Connaître means to know or to be familiar with a person, place, subject, or thing:

French	English
Je connais ce professeur.	I know this teacher.
Je connais Paris.	I know Paris / I'm familiar with Paris.
Je connais un peu le français.	I know some French / I'm somewhat familiar with French.

Comprendre means to understand:

French	English
Je comprends ce professeur.	I understand this teacher.
Je comprends son explication.	I understand his/her explanation.
Je comprends le français.	I understand French.

Comprendre vs entendre

Entendre means to hear, while comprendre means to understand:

French	English
Je t'entends, mais je ne te comprends pas.	I can hear you, but I don't understand you.

If the problem is sound, use entendre. If you can hear the words but do not understand their meaning, use comprendre.

Verb	English	When to use it
comprendre	to understand, include	Understanding meaning or describing what a whole contains
savoir	to know	Knowing facts or knowing how to do something
connaître	to know, be familiar with	Knowing a person, place, subject, or thing
entendre	to hear	Perceiving sound
apprendre	to learn	Acquiring knowledge or learning how to do something
saisir	to grasp	Understanding something, often with the sense of grasping an idea
inclure	to include	Explicitly describing something as part of a larger whole

The most important meaning is to understand, but recognizing the include meaning prevents confusion in common expressions such as prix comprenant le service and y compris.

From learning to practice

Je ne comprends pas and Vous pouvez répéter ? are among the first phrases learners need — and comprendre takes its object directly, with no extra preposition. In hotels and bookings, watch for the other meaning: petit-déjeuner compris and Le forfait comprend… mean included, not understood. When someone speaks too fast, Je t'entends, mais je ne te comprends pas names the problem precisely.