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 drink.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bois | I drink | |
| tu | bois | you drink | |
| il / elle / on | boit | he / she / it drinkson: we drink / one drinks | |
| nous | buvons | we drink | |
| vous | buvez | you drink | |
| ils / elles | boivent | they drink |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul boit un verre d'eau.
Paul drinks a glass of water.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai bu | I drank | |
| tu | as bu | you drank | |
| il / elle / on | a bu | he / she / it drankon: we drank / one drank | |
| nous | avons bu | we drank | |
| vous | avez bu | you drank | |
| ils / elles | ont bu | they drank |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a bu un verre d'eau.
Yesterday, Paul drank a glass of water.
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’ | buvais | I used to drink | |
| tu | buvais | you used to drink | |
| il / elle / on | buvait | he / she / it used to drinkon: we used to drink / one used to drink | |
| nous | buvions | we used to drink | |
| vous | buviez | you used to drink | |
| ils / elles | buvaient | they used to drink |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul buvait un verre d'eau.
Back then, Paul used to drink a glass of water.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boirai | I will drink | |
| tu | boiras | you will drink | |
| il / elle / on | boira | he / she / it will drinkon: we will drink / one will drink | |
| nous | boirons | we will drink | |
| vous | boirez | you will drink | |
| ils / elles | boiront | they will drink |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul boira un verre d'eau.
Later, Paul will drink a glass of water.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boirais | I would drink | |
| tu | boirais | you would drink | |
| il / elle / on | boirait | he / she / it would drinkon: we would drink / one would drink | |
| nous | boirions | we would drink | |
| vous | boiriez | you would drink | |
| ils / elles | boiraient | they would drink |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul boirait un verre d'eau.
Paul would drink a glass of water.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boive | (that) I drink | |
| tu | boives | (that) you drink | |
| il / elle / on | boive | (that) he / she / it drinkson: (that) we drink / one drinks | |
| nous | buvions | (that) we drink | |
| vous | buviez | (that) you drink | |
| ils / elles | boivent | (that) they drink |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul boive un verre d'eau.
It is possible that Paul drinks a glass of water.
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 drink
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