comprendre
French, verb/kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ/
comprendre is spelled C-O-M-P-R-E-N-D-R-E (10 letters) and appears 138 times per million words in written French, the 598th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Comprendre is a French verb meaning “to understand, comprehend” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Contenir en soi”.
What does comprendre mean in English?
verb
- 1
to understand, comprehend
J'ai compris maintenant.
- 2
to comprise, include
- 3
to know each other (well); to get on well, to get along well
Quoique leurs goûts fussent différents, ces deux amis se comprenaient à merveille.
- 4
to be comprehensible or conceivable
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Contenir en soi. 2. Faire entrer dans un ensemble. 3. Embrasser ou saisir par l’intelligence. 4. Saisir le sens d’un mot, d’une langue, etc.
noun: 1. Fait même de comprendre, d’avoir l’intelligence d’une chose, érigé en concept.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of comprendre
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- comprenant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- compris participle past
- comprends first-person indicative present
- comprend indicative present singular
- comprenons first-person indicative plural
- comprenez indicative plural present
- comprennent indicative plural present
- comprenais first-person imperfect indicative
- comprenait imperfect indicative singular
- comprenions first-person imperfect indicative
- compreniez imperfect indicative plural
- comprenaient imperfect indicative plural
- comprit historic indicative past
- comprîmes first-person historic indicative
- comprîtes historic indicative past
- comprirent historic indicative past
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce comprendre?
- /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ/
- \kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ\
- [kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to comprendre
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is comprendre in French?
comprendre appears 138 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).