Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to give up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abandonne | I give up | |
| tu | abandonnes | you give up | |
| il / elle / on | abandonne | he / she / it gives upon: we give up / one gives up | |
| nous | abandonnons | we give up | |
| vous | abandonnez | you give up | |
| ils / elles | abandonnent | they give up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul abandonne ce projet trop coûteux.
Paul gives up this overly expensive project.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai abandonné | I gave up | |
| tu | as abandonné | you gave up | |
| il / elle / on | a abandonné | he / she / it gave upon: we gave up / one gave up | |
| nous | avons abandonné | we gave up | |
| vous | avez abandonné | you gave up | |
| ils / elles | ont abandonné | they gave up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a abandonné ce projet trop coûteux.
Yesterday, Paul gave up this overly expensive project.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abandonnais | I used to give up | |
| tu | abandonnais | you used to give up | |
| il / elle / on | abandonnait | he / she / it used to give upon: we used to give up / one used to give up | |
| nous | abandonnions | we used to give up | |
| vous | abandonniez | you used to give up | |
| ils / elles | abandonnaient | they used to give up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul abandonnait ce projet trop coûteux.
Back then, Paul used to give up this overly expensive project.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abandonnerai | I will give up | |
| tu | abandonneras | you will give up | |
| il / elle / on | abandonnera | he / she / it will give upon: we will give up / one will give up | |
| nous | abandonnerons | we will give up | |
| vous | abandonnerez | you will give up | |
| ils / elles | abandonneront | they will give up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul abandonnera ce projet trop coûteux.
Later, Paul will give up this overly expensive project.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abandonnerais | I would give up | |
| tu | abandonnerais | you would give up | |
| il / elle / on | abandonnerait | he / she / it would give upon: we would give up / one would give up | |
| nous | abandonnerions | we would give up | |
| vous | abandonneriez | you would give up | |
| ils / elles | abandonneraient | they would give up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul abandonnerait ce projet trop coûteux.
Paul would give up this overly expensive project.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abandonne | (that) I give up | |
| tu | abandonnes | (that) you give up | |
| il / elle / on | abandonne | (that) he / she / it gives upon: (that) we give up / one gives up | |
| nous | abandonnions | (that) we give up | |
| vous | abandonniez | (that) you give up | |
| ils / elles | abandonnent | (that) they give up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul abandonne ce projet trop coûteux.
It is possible that Paul gives up this overly expensive project.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to give up
- to abandon, forsake
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations