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 arrive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | arrive | I arrive | |
| tu | arrives | you arrive | |
| il / elle / on | arrive | he / she / it arriveson: we arrive / one arrives | |
| nous | arrivons | we arrive | |
| vous | arrivez | you arrive | |
| ils / elles | arrivent | they arrive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul arrive à la gare.
Paul arrives at the station.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis arrivé / suis arrivée | I arrived | |
| tu | es arrivé / es arrivée | you arrived | |
| il / elle / on | est arrivé / est arrivée | he / she / it arrivedon: we arrived / one arrived | |
| nous | sommes arrivés / sommes arrivées | we arrived | |
| vous | êtes arrivé / êtes arrivée / êtes arrivés / êtes arrivées | you arrived | |
| ils / elles | sont arrivés / sont arrivées | they arrived |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est arrivé à la gare.
Yesterday, Paul arrived at the station.
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’ | arrivais | I used to arrive | |
| tu | arrivais | you used to arrive | |
| il / elle / on | arrivait | he / she / it used to arriveon: we used to arrive / one used to arrive | |
| nous | arrivions | we used to arrive | |
| vous | arriviez | you used to arrive | |
| ils / elles | arrivaient | they used to arrive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul arrivait à la gare.
Back then, Paul used to arrive at the station.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | arriverai | I will arrive | |
| tu | arriveras | you will arrive | |
| il / elle / on | arrivera | he / she / it will arriveon: we will arrive / one will arrive | |
| nous | arriverons | we will arrive | |
| vous | arriverez | you will arrive | |
| ils / elles | arriveront | they will arrive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul arrivera à la gare.
Later, Paul will arrive at the station.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | arriverais | I would arrive | |
| tu | arriverais | you would arrive | |
| il / elle / on | arriverait | he / she / it would arriveon: we would arrive / one would arrive | |
| nous | arriverions | we would arrive | |
| vous | arriveriez | you would arrive | |
| ils / elles | arriveraient | they would arrive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul arriverait à la gare.
Paul would arrive at the station.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | arrive | (that) I arrive | |
| tu | arrives | (that) you arrive | |
| il / elle / on | arrive | (that) he / she / it arriveson: (that) we arrive / one arrives | |
| nous | arrivions | (that) we arrive | |
| vous | arriviez | (that) you arrive | |
| ils / elles | arrivent | (that) they arrive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul arrive à la gare.
It is possible that Paul arrives at the station.
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 arrive (often followed by a location)
- to cope, to manage
- to be able to, to manage (to do something successfully)
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