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 call.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | appelle | I call | |
| tu | appelles | you call | |
| il / elle / on | appelle | he / she / it callson: we call / one calls | |
| nous | appelons | we call | |
| vous | appelez | you call | |
| ils / elles | appellent | they call |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul appelle son frère depuis la fenêtre.
Paul calls his brother from the window.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai appelé | I called | |
| tu | as appelé | you called | |
| il / elle / on | a appelé | he / she / it calledon: we called / one called | |
| nous | avons appelé | we called | |
| vous | avez appelé | you called | |
| ils / elles | ont appelé | they called |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a appelé son frère depuis la fenêtre.
Yesterday, Paul called his brother from the window.
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’ | appelais | I used to call | |
| tu | appelais | you used to call | |
| il / elle / on | appelait | he / she / it used to callon: we used to call / one used to call | |
| nous | appelions | we used to call | |
| vous | appeliez | you used to call | |
| ils / elles | appelaient | they used to call |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul appelait son frère depuis la fenêtre.
Back then, Paul used to call his brother from the window.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | appellerai | I will call | |
| tu | appelleras | you will call | |
| il / elle / on | appellera | he / she / it will callon: we will call / one will call | |
| nous | appellerons | we will call | |
| vous | appellerez | you will call | |
| ils / elles | appelleront | they will call |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul appellera son frère depuis la fenêtre.
Later, Paul will call his brother from the window.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | appellerais | I would call | |
| tu | appellerais | you would call | |
| il / elle / on | appellerait | he / she / it would callon: we would call / one would call | |
| nous | appellerions | we would call | |
| vous | appelleriez | you would call | |
| ils / elles | appelleraient | they would call |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul appellerait son frère depuis la fenêtre.
Paul would call his brother from the window.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | appelle | (that) I call | |
| tu | appelles | (that) you call | |
| il / elle / on | appelle | (that) he / she / it callson: (that) we call / one calls | |
| nous | appelions | (that) we call | |
| vous | appeliez | (that) you call | |
| ils / elles | appellent | (that) they call |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul appelle son frère depuis la fenêtre.
It is possible that Paul calls his brother from the window.
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 call (out)
- to call, phone, ring
- to call for, summon
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