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 sing.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chante | I sing | |
| tu | chantes | you sing | |
| il / elle / on | chante | he / she / it singson: we sing / one sings | |
| nous | chantons | we sing | |
| vous | chantez | you sing | |
| ils / elles | chantent | they sing |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul chante une chanson française.
Paul sings a French song.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai chanté | I sang | |
| tu | as chanté | you sang | |
| il / elle / on | a chanté | he / she / it sangon: we sang / one sang | |
| nous | avons chanté | we sang | |
| vous | avez chanté | you sang | |
| ils / elles | ont chanté | they sang |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a chanté une chanson française.
Yesterday, Paul sang a French song.
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’ | chantais | I used to sing | |
| tu | chantais | you used to sing | |
| il / elle / on | chantait | he / she / it used to singon: we used to sing / one used to sing | |
| nous | chantions | we used to sing | |
| vous | chantiez | you used to sing | |
| ils / elles | chantaient | they used to sing |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul chantait une chanson française.
Back then, Paul used to sing a French song.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chanterai | I will sing | |
| tu | chanteras | you will sing | |
| il / elle / on | chantera | he / she / it will singon: we will sing / one will sing | |
| nous | chanterons | we will sing | |
| vous | chanterez | you will sing | |
| ils / elles | chanteront | they will sing |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul chantera une chanson française.
Later, Paul will sing a French song.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chanterais | I would sing | |
| tu | chanterais | you would sing | |
| il / elle / on | chanterait | he / she / it would singon: we would sing / one would sing | |
| nous | chanterions | we would sing | |
| vous | chanteriez | you would sing | |
| ils / elles | chanteraient | they would sing |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul chanterait une chanson française.
Paul would sing a French song.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chante | (that) I sing | |
| tu | chantes | (that) you sing | |
| il / elle / on | chante | (that) he / she / it singson: (that) we sing / one sings | |
| nous | chantions | (that) we sing | |
| vous | chantiez | (that) you sing | |
| ils / elles | chantent | (that) they sing |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul chante une chanson française.
It is possible that Paul sings a French song.
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 sing
- to crow
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