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 feed.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | alimente | I feed | |
| tu | alimentes | you feed | |
| il / elle / on | alimente | he / she / it feedson: we feed / one feeds | |
| nous | alimentons | we feed | |
| vous | alimentez | you feed | |
| ils / elles | alimentent | they feed |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le soigneur alimente les animaux du refuge.
The caretaker feeds the animals at the shelter.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai alimenté | I fed | |
| tu | as alimenté | you fed | |
| il / elle / on | a alimenté | he / she / it fedon: we fed / one fed | |
| nous | avons alimenté | we fed | |
| vous | avez alimenté | you fed | |
| ils / elles | ont alimenté | they fed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le soigneur a alimenté les animaux du refuge.
Yesterday, the caretaker fed the animals at the shelter.
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’ | alimentais | I used to feed | |
| tu | alimentais | you used to feed | |
| il / elle / on | alimentait | he / she / it used to feedon: we used to feed / one used to feed | |
| nous | alimentions | we used to feed | |
| vous | alimentiez | you used to feed | |
| ils / elles | alimentaient | they used to feed |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le soigneur alimentait les animaux du refuge.
Back then, the caretaker used to feed the animals at the shelter.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | alimenterai | I will feed | |
| tu | alimenteras | you will feed | |
| il / elle / on | alimentera | he / she / it will feedon: we will feed / one will feed | |
| nous | alimenterons | we will feed | |
| vous | alimenterez | you will feed | |
| ils / elles | alimenteront | they will feed |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le soigneur alimentera les animaux du refuge.
Later, the caretaker will feed the animals at the shelter.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | alimenterais | I would feed | |
| tu | alimenterais | you would feed | |
| il / elle / on | alimenterait | he / she / it would feedon: we would feed / one would feed | |
| nous | alimenterions | we would feed | |
| vous | alimenteriez | you would feed | |
| ils / elles | alimenteraient | they would feed |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le soigneur alimenterait les animaux du refuge.
The caretaker would feed the animals at the shelter.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | alimente | (that) I feed | |
| tu | alimentes | (that) you feed | |
| il / elle / on | alimente | (that) he / she / it feedson: (that) we feed / one feeds | |
| nous | alimentions | (that) we feed | |
| vous | alimentiez | (that) you feed | |
| ils / elles | alimentent | (that) they feed |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le soigneur alimente les animaux du refuge.
It is possible that the caretaker feeds the animals at the shelter.
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 feed, to give food to
- to supply, to fund
- to fuel, feed (e.g. an argument)
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