cuire

Cuire means to cook — an irregular -re verb conjugated like conduire (je cuis, nous cuisons), used both transitively (cuire un plat) and intransitively (le riz cuit). The past participle cuit also shows up in the very common informal expression être cuit, meaning to be done for.

• Fais cuire les pâtes dix minutes. — Cook the pasta for ten minutes.
• Le gâteau cuit encore au four. — The cake is still baking in the oven.
• Cette viande a cuit trop longtemps. — This meat cooked for too long.

Cuire conjugates like conduire, not like an -ir verb — learners sometimes produce je cuis correctly but then slip into il cuisit for the passé simple or similar wrong analogies; the whole conjugation follows the -uire family (conduire, produire, traduire), not a regular -ir pattern.

• expression Être cuit / c'est cuit — A widely used informal expression for being finished, defeated, or caught out — e.g. 'si le prof découvre ça, tu es cuit.'