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 subscribe.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abonne | I subscribe | |
| tu | abonnes | you subscribe | |
| il / elle / on | abonne | he / she / it subscribeson: we subscribe / one subscribes | |
| nous | abonnons | we subscribe | |
| vous | abonnez | you subscribe | |
| ils / elles | abonnent | they subscribe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul abonne sa fille à un magazine.
Paul subscribes his daughter to a magazine.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai abonné | I subscribed | |
| tu | as abonné | you subscribed | |
| il / elle / on | a abonné | he / she / it subscribedon: we subscribed / one subscribed | |
| nous | avons abonné | we subscribed | |
| vous | avez abonné | you subscribed | |
| ils / elles | ont abonné | they subscribed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a abonné sa fille à un magazine.
Yesterday, Paul subscribed his daughter to a magazine.
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’ | abonnais | I used to subscribe | |
| tu | abonnais | you used to subscribe | |
| il / elle / on | abonnait | he / she / it used to subscribeon: we used to subscribe / one used to subscribe | |
| nous | abonnions | we used to subscribe | |
| vous | abonniez | you used to subscribe | |
| ils / elles | abonnaient | they used to subscribe |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul abonnait sa fille à un magazine.
Back then, Paul used to subscribe his daughter to a magazine.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abonnerai | I will subscribe | |
| tu | abonneras | you will subscribe | |
| il / elle / on | abonnera | he / she / it will subscribeon: we will subscribe / one will subscribe | |
| nous | abonnerons | we will subscribe | |
| vous | abonnerez | you will subscribe | |
| ils / elles | abonneront | they will subscribe |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul abonnera sa fille à un magazine.
Later, Paul will subscribe his daughter to a magazine.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abonnerais | I would subscribe | |
| tu | abonnerais | you would subscribe | |
| il / elle / on | abonnerait | he / she / it would subscribeon: we would subscribe / one would subscribe | |
| nous | abonnerions | we would subscribe | |
| vous | abonneriez | you would subscribe | |
| ils / elles | abonneraient | they would subscribe |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul abonnerait sa fille à un magazine.
Paul would subscribe his daughter to a magazine.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | abonne | (that) I subscribe | |
| tu | abonnes | (that) you subscribe | |
| il / elle / on | abonne | (that) he / she / it subscribeson: (that) we subscribe / one subscribes | |
| nous | abonnions | (that) we subscribe | |
| vous | abonniez | (that) you subscribe | |
| ils / elles | abonnent | (that) they subscribe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul abonne sa fille à un magazine.
It is possible that Paul subscribes his daughter to a magazine.
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.”
This is the transitive construction: Paul subscribes someone else to a publication. S’abonner means subscribe oneself.
Meaning & usage
- to subscribe somebody to a service; to take a subscription for
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