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 attend.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assiste | I attend | |
| tu | assistes | you attend | |
| il / elle / on | assiste | he / she / it attendson: we attend / one attends | |
| nous | assistons | we attend | |
| vous | assistez | you attend | |
| ils / elles | assistent | they attend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul assiste à une réunion de quartier.
Paul attends a neighborhood meeting.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai assisté | I attended | |
| tu | as assisté | you attended | |
| il / elle / on | a assisté | he / she / it attendedon: we attended / one attended | |
| nous | avons assisté | we attended | |
| vous | avez assisté | you attended | |
| ils / elles | ont assisté | they attended |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a assisté à une réunion de quartier.
Yesterday, Paul attended a neighborhood meeting.
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’ | assistais | I used to attend | |
| tu | assistais | you used to attend | |
| il / elle / on | assistait | he / she / it used to attendon: we used to attend / one used to attend | |
| nous | assistions | we used to attend | |
| vous | assistiez | you used to attend | |
| ils / elles | assistaient | they used to attend |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul assistait à une réunion de quartier.
Back then, Paul used to attend a neighborhood meeting.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assisterai | I will attend | |
| tu | assisteras | you will attend | |
| il / elle / on | assistera | he / she / it will attendon: we will attend / one will attend | |
| nous | assisterons | we will attend | |
| vous | assisterez | you will attend | |
| ils / elles | assisteront | they will attend |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul assistera à une réunion de quartier.
Later, Paul will attend a neighborhood meeting.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assisterais | I would attend | |
| tu | assisterais | you would attend | |
| il / elle / on | assisterait | he / she / it would attendon: we would attend / one would attend | |
| nous | assisterions | we would attend | |
| vous | assisteriez | you would attend | |
| ils / elles | assisteraient | they would attend |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul assisterait à une réunion de quartier.
Paul would attend a neighborhood meeting.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | assiste | (that) I attend | |
| tu | assistes | (that) you attend | |
| il / elle / on | assiste | (that) he / she / it attendson: (that) we attend / one attends | |
| nous | assistions | (that) we attend | |
| vous | assistiez | (that) you attend | |
| ils / elles | assistent | (that) they attend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul assiste à une réunion de quartier.
It is possible that Paul attends a neighborhood meeting.
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.”
Assister à means to attend an event. It does not mean to assist someone in this example.
Meaning & usage
- to assist; to attend (with à)
- to assist, to aid
- to attend, to be present
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