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 wait for.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | attends | I wait for | |
| tu | attends | you wait for | |
| il / elle / on | attend | he / she / it waits foron: we wait for / one waits for | |
| nous | attendons | we wait for | |
| vous | attendez | you wait for | |
| ils / elles | attendent | they wait for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul attend le bus devant la gare.
Paul waits for the bus in front of the station.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai attendu | I waited for | |
| tu | as attendu | you waited for | |
| il / elle / on | a attendu | he / she / it waited foron: we waited for / one waited for | |
| nous | avons attendu | we waited for | |
| vous | avez attendu | you waited for | |
| ils / elles | ont attendu | they waited for |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a attendu le bus devant la gare.
Yesterday, Paul waited for the bus in front of the station.
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’ | attendais | I used to wait for | |
| tu | attendais | you used to wait for | |
| il / elle / on | attendait | he / she / it used to wait foron: we used to wait for / one used to wait for | |
| nous | attendions | we used to wait for | |
| vous | attendiez | you used to wait for | |
| ils / elles | attendaient | they used to wait for |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul attendait le bus devant la gare.
Back then, Paul used to wait for the bus in front of the station.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | attendrai | I will wait for | |
| tu | attendras | you will wait for | |
| il / elle / on | attendra | he / she / it will wait foron: we will wait for / one will wait for | |
| nous | attendrons | we will wait for | |
| vous | attendrez | you will wait for | |
| ils / elles | attendront | they will wait for |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul attendra le bus devant la gare.
Later, Paul will wait for the bus in front of the station.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | attendrais | I would wait for | |
| tu | attendrais | you would wait for | |
| il / elle / on | attendrait | he / she / it would wait foron: we would wait for / one would wait for | |
| nous | attendrions | we would wait for | |
| vous | attendriez | you would wait for | |
| ils / elles | attendraient | they would wait for |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul attendrait le bus devant la gare.
Paul would wait for the bus in front of the station.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | attende | (that) I wait for | |
| tu | attendes | (that) you wait for | |
| il / elle / on | attende | (that) he / she / it waits foron: (that) we wait for / one waits for | |
| nous | attendions | (that) we wait for | |
| vous | attendiez | (that) you wait for | |
| ils / elles | attendent | (that) they wait for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul attende le bus devant la gare.
It is possible that Paul waits for the bus in front of 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 wait for, to await
- to expect
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