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 help.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aide | I help | |
| tu | aides | you help | |
| il / elle / on | aide | he / she / it helpson: we help / one helps | |
| nous | aidons | we help | |
| vous | aidez | you help | |
| ils / elles | aident | they help |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul aide sa sœur à préparer le repas.
Paul helps his sister prepare the meal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai aidé | I helped | |
| tu | as aidé | you helped | |
| il / elle / on | a aidé | he / she / it helpedon: we helped / one helped | |
| nous | avons aidé | we helped | |
| vous | avez aidé | you helped | |
| ils / elles | ont aidé | they helped |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a aidé sa sœur à préparer le repas.
Yesterday, Paul helped his sister prepare the meal.
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’ | aidais | I used to help | |
| tu | aidais | you used to help | |
| il / elle / on | aidait | he / she / it used to helpon: we used to help / one used to help | |
| nous | aidions | we used to help | |
| vous | aidiez | you used to help | |
| ils / elles | aidaient | they used to help |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul aidait sa sœur à préparer le repas.
Back then, Paul used to help his sister prepare the meal.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aiderai | I will help | |
| tu | aideras | you will help | |
| il / elle / on | aidera | he / she / it will helpon: we will help / one will help | |
| nous | aiderons | we will help | |
| vous | aiderez | you will help | |
| ils / elles | aideront | they will help |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul aidera sa sœur à préparer le repas.
Later, Paul will help his sister prepare the meal.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aiderais | I would help | |
| tu | aiderais | you would help | |
| il / elle / on | aiderait | he / she / it would helpon: we would help / one would help | |
| nous | aiderions | we would help | |
| vous | aideriez | you would help | |
| ils / elles | aideraient | they would help |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul aiderait sa sœur à préparer le repas.
Paul would help his sister prepare the meal.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aide | (that) I help | |
| tu | aides | (that) you help | |
| il / elle / on | aide | (that) he / she / it helpson: (that) we help / one helps | |
| nous | aidions | (that) we help | |
| vous | aidiez | (that) you help | |
| ils / elles | aident | (that) they help |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul aide sa sœur à préparer le repas.
It is possible that Paul helps his sister prepare the meal.
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 help; to aid
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