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 move forward.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avance | I move forward | |
| tu | avances | you move forward | |
| il / elle / on | avance | he / she / it moves forwardon: we move forward / one moves forward | |
| nous | avançons | we move forward | |
| vous | avancez | you move forward | |
| ils / elles | avancent | they move forward |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul avance lentement dans le couloir.
Paul moves forward slowly along the corridor.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai avancé | I moved forward | |
| tu | as avancé | you moved forward | |
| il / elle / on | a avancé | he / she / it moved forwardon: we moved forward / one moved forward | |
| nous | avons avancé | we moved forward | |
| vous | avez avancé | you moved forward | |
| ils / elles | ont avancé | they moved forward |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a avancé lentement dans le couloir.
Yesterday, Paul moved forward slowly along the corridor.
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’ | avançais | I used to move forward | |
| tu | avançais | you used to move forward | |
| il / elle / on | avançait | he / she / it used to move forwardon: we used to move forward / one used to move forward | |
| nous | avancions | we used to move forward | |
| vous | avanciez | you used to move forward | |
| ils / elles | avançaient | they used to move forward |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul avançait lentement dans le couloir.
Back then, Paul used to move forward slowly along the corridor.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avancerai | I will move forward | |
| tu | avanceras | you will move forward | |
| il / elle / on | avancera | he / she / it will move forwardon: we will move forward / one will move forward | |
| nous | avancerons | we will move forward | |
| vous | avancerez | you will move forward | |
| ils / elles | avanceront | they will move forward |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul avancera lentement dans le couloir.
Later, Paul will move forward slowly along the corridor.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avancerais | I would move forward | |
| tu | avancerais | you would move forward | |
| il / elle / on | avancerait | he / she / it would move forwardon: we would move forward / one would move forward | |
| nous | avancerions | we would move forward | |
| vous | avanceriez | you would move forward | |
| ils / elles | avanceraient | they would move forward |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul avancerait lentement dans le couloir.
Paul would move forward slowly along the corridor.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | avance | (that) I move forward | |
| tu | avances | (that) you move forward | |
| il / elle / on | avance | (that) he / she / it moves forwardon: (that) we move forward / one moves forward | |
| nous | avancions | (that) we move forward | |
| vous | avanciez | (that) you move forward | |
| ils / elles | avancent | (that) they move forward |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul avance lentement dans le couloir.
It is possible that Paul moves forward slowly along the corridor.
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 advance, to go forward
- to progress
- to bring forward, to advance
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