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 face.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affronte | I face | |
| tu | affrontes | you face | |
| il / elle / on | affronte | he / she / it faceson: we face / one faces | |
| nous | affrontons | we face | |
| vous | affrontez | you face | |
| ils / elles | affrontent | they face |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul affronte les difficultés avec courage.
Paul faces difficulties courageously.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai affronté | I faced | |
| tu | as affronté | you faced | |
| il / elle / on | a affronté | he / she / it facedon: we faced / one faced | |
| nous | avons affronté | we faced | |
| vous | avez affronté | you faced | |
| ils / elles | ont affronté | they faced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a affronté les difficultés avec courage.
Yesterday, Paul faced difficulties courageously.
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’ | affrontais | I used to face | |
| tu | affrontais | you used to face | |
| il / elle / on | affrontait | he / she / it used to faceon: we used to face / one used to face | |
| nous | affrontions | we used to face | |
| vous | affrontiez | you used to face | |
| ils / elles | affrontaient | they used to face |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul affrontait les difficultés avec courage.
Back then, Paul used to face difficulties courageously.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affronterai | I will face | |
| tu | affronteras | you will face | |
| il / elle / on | affrontera | he / she / it will faceon: we will face / one will face | |
| nous | affronterons | we will face | |
| vous | affronterez | you will face | |
| ils / elles | affronteront | they will face |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul affrontera les difficultés avec courage.
Later, Paul will face difficulties courageously.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affronterais | I would face | |
| tu | affronterais | you would face | |
| il / elle / on | affronterait | he / she / it would faceon: we would face / one would face | |
| nous | affronterions | we would face | |
| vous | affronteriez | you would face | |
| ils / elles | affronteraient | they would face |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul affronterait les difficultés avec courage.
Paul would face difficulties courageously.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | affronte | (that) I face | |
| tu | affrontes | (that) you face | |
| il / elle / on | affronte | (that) he / she / it faceson: (that) we face / one faces | |
| nous | affrontions | (that) we face | |
| vous | affrontiez | (that) you face | |
| ils / elles | affrontent | (that) they face |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul affronte les difficultés avec courage.
It is possible that Paul faces difficulties courageously.
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 confront, face
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