The Irregular Verb Mettre & Its Professional Derivatives

The Mettre Family

The verb mettre (to put, to place) is the root of a productive family of verbs that share its conjugation pattern. The most important derivatives include permettre (to allow), promettre (to promise), admettre (to admit), commettre (to commit), and transmettre (to transmit). All of them follow the same irregularities across tenses and moods.

Present Tense

Other Tenses and Moods

The passé composé uses the irregular past participle mis (and its derivatives permis, promis) with the auxiliary avoir. For the formation of this tense, see the regular avoir framework and irregular participles with avoir.

The futur simple stem is mett- with the regular future endings: je mettrai, tu permettras, il promettra. For the endings, see le futur simple.

The subjonctif présent also uses the stem mett-: que je mette, que nous mettions. The formation of the subjunctive is treated in subjonctif présent derivation.

Professional and Academic Contexts

The following expressions illustrate the use of mettre and its derivatives in work and study environments:
- mettre en place un projet (to set up a project)
- mettre son CV en ligne (to post one's CV online)
- mettre à jour (to update)
- Ce diplôme permet de travailler à l'étranger. (This degree allows one to work abroad.)
- Le stage m'a permis d'acquérir de l'expérience. (The internship allowed me to gain experience.)
- L'entreprise promet une formation. (The company promises training.)
- J'ai promis de finir le rapport. (I promised to finish the report.)
- Il faut admettre ses erreurs. (One must admit one's mistakes.)
- Transmettez le dossier au service RH. (Forward the file to the HR department.)