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 eat.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bouffe | I eat | |
| tu | bouffes | you eat | |
| il / elle / on | bouffe | he / she / it eatson: we eat / one eats | |
| nous | bouffons | we eat | |
| vous | bouffez | you eat | |
| ils / elles | bouffent | they eat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul bouffe un sandwich avant le match.
Paul eats a sandwich before the match.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai bouffé | I ate | |
| tu | as bouffé | you ate | |
| il / elle / on | a bouffé | he / she / it ateon: we ate / one ate | |
| nous | avons bouffé | we ate | |
| vous | avez bouffé | you ate | |
| ils / elles | ont bouffé | they ate |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a bouffé un sandwich avant le match.
Yesterday, Paul ate a sandwich before the match.
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’ | bouffais | I used to eat | |
| tu | bouffais | you used to eat | |
| il / elle / on | bouffait | he / she / it used to eaton: we used to eat / one used to eat | |
| nous | bouffions | we used to eat | |
| vous | bouffiez | you used to eat | |
| ils / elles | bouffaient | they used to eat |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul bouffait un sandwich avant le match.
Back then, Paul used to eat a sandwich before the match.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boufferai | I will eat | |
| tu | boufferas | you will eat | |
| il / elle / on | bouffera | he / she / it will eaton: we will eat / one will eat | |
| nous | boufferons | we will eat | |
| vous | boufferez | you will eat | |
| ils / elles | boufferont | they will eat |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul bouffera un sandwich avant le match.
Later, Paul will eat a sandwich before the match.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | boufferais | I would eat | |
| tu | boufferais | you would eat | |
| il / elle / on | boufferait | he / she / it would eaton: we would eat / one would eat | |
| nous | boufferions | we would eat | |
| vous | boufferiez | you would eat | |
| ils / elles | boufferaient | they would eat |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul boufferait un sandwich avant le match.
Paul would eat a sandwich before the match.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | bouffe | (that) I eat | |
| tu | bouffes | (that) you eat | |
| il / elle / on | bouffe | (that) he / she / it eatson: (that) we eat / one eats | |
| nous | bouffions | (that) we eat | |
| vous | bouffiez | (that) you eat | |
| ils / elles | bouffent | (that) they eat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul bouffe un sandwich avant le match.
It is possible that Paul eats a sandwich before the match.
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.”
Bouffer means eat in very informal speech; manger is the neutral everyday verb.
Meaning & usage
- to eat
- to eat, to worry
- to consume in excess
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