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 go.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | vais | I go | |
| tu | vas | you go | |
| il / elle / on | va | he / she / it goeson: we go / one goes | |
| nous | allons | we go | |
| vous | allez | you go | |
| ils / elles | vont | they go |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul va à la bibliothèque.
Paul goes to the library.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis allé / suis allée | I went | |
| tu | es allé / es allée | you went | |
| il / elle / on | est allé / est allée | he / she / it wenton: we went / one went | |
| nous | sommes allés / sommes allées | we went | |
| vous | êtes allé / êtes allée / êtes allés / êtes allées | you went | |
| ils / elles | sont allés / sont allées | they went |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est allé au marché.
Yesterday, Paul went to the market.
With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | allais | I used to go | |
| tu | allais | you used to go | |
| il / elle / on | allait | he / she / it used to goon: we used to go / one used to go | |
| nous | allions | we used to go | |
| vous | alliez | you used to go | |
| ils / elles | allaient | they used to go |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul allait à la bibliothèque chaque samedi.
Back then, Paul used to go to the library every Saturday.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | irai | I will go | |
| tu | iras | you will go | |
| il / elle / on | ira | he / she / it will goon: we will go / one will go | |
| nous | irons | we will go | |
| vous | irez | you will go | |
| ils / elles | iront | they will go |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Demain, Paul ira chez son frère.
Tomorrow, Paul will go to his brother’s house.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | irais | I would go | |
| tu | irais | you would go | |
| il / elle / on | irait | he / she / it would goon: we would go / one would go | |
| nous | irions | we would go | |
| vous | iriez | you would go | |
| ils / elles | iraient | they would go |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Avec plus de temps, Paul irait au musée.
With more time, Paul would go to the museum.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | aille | (that) I go | |
| tu | ailles | (that) you go | |
| il / elle / on | aille | (that) he / she / it goeson: (that) we go / one goes | |
| nous | allions | (that) we go | |
| vous | alliez | (that) you go | |
| ils / elles | aillent | (that) they go |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul aille au marché cet après-midi.
Paul may go to the market this afternoon.
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 go
- to attend (school, church regularly)
- to be going (to); will soon; forms a near-future tense
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