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 beat.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bats | I beat | |
| tu | bats | you beat | |
| il / elle / on | bat | he / she / it beatson: we beat / one beats | |
| nous | battons | we beat | |
| vous | battez | you beat | |
| ils / elles | battent | they beat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul bat son ami aux échecs.
Paul beats his friend at chess.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai battu | I beat | |
| tu | as battu | you beat | |
| il / elle / on | a battu | he / she / it beaton: we beat / one beat | |
| nous | avons battu | we beat | |
| vous | avez battu | you beat | |
| ils / elles | ont battu | they beat |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a battu son ami aux échecs.
Yesterday, Paul beat his friend at chess.
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’ | battais | I used to beat | |
| tu | battais | you used to beat | |
| il / elle / on | battait | he / she / it used to beaton: we used to beat / one used to beat | |
| nous | battions | we used to beat | |
| vous | battiez | you used to beat | |
| ils / elles | battaient | they used to beat |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul battait son ami aux échecs.
Back then, Paul used to beat his friend at chess.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | battrai | I will beat | |
| tu | battras | you will beat | |
| il / elle / on | battra | he / she / it will beaton: we will beat / one will beat | |
| nous | battrons | we will beat | |
| vous | battrez | you will beat | |
| ils / elles | battront | they will beat |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul battra son ami aux échecs.
Later, Paul will beat his friend at chess.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | battrais | I would beat | |
| tu | battrais | you would beat | |
| il / elle / on | battrait | he / she / it would beaton: we would beat / one would beat | |
| nous | battrions | we would beat | |
| vous | battriez | you would beat | |
| ils / elles | battraient | they would beat |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul battrait son ami aux échecs.
Paul would beat his friend at chess.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | batte | (that) I beat | |
| tu | battes | (that) you beat | |
| il / elle / on | batte | (that) he / she / it beatson: (that) we beat / one beats | |
| nous | battions | (that) we beat | |
| vous | battiez | (that) you beat | |
| ils / elles | battent | (that) they beat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul batte son ami aux échecs.
It is possible that Paul beats his friend at chess.
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 beat; to defeat
- to beat up
- to whisk or whip (eggs)
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