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 load.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | charge | I load | |
| tu | charges | you load | |
| il / elle / on | charge | he / she / it loadson: we load / one loads | |
| nous | chargeons | we load | |
| vous | chargez | you load | |
| ils / elles | chargent | they load |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul charge les valises dans la voiture.
Paul loads the suitcases into the car.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai chargé | I loaded | |
| tu | as chargé | you loaded | |
| il / elle / on | a chargé | he / she / it loadedon: we loaded / one loaded | |
| nous | avons chargé | we loaded | |
| vous | avez chargé | you loaded | |
| ils / elles | ont chargé | they loaded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a chargé les valises dans la voiture.
Yesterday, Paul loaded the suitcases into the car.
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’ | chargeais | I used to load | |
| tu | chargeais | you used to load | |
| il / elle / on | chargeait | he / she / it used to loadon: we used to load / one used to load | |
| nous | chargions | we used to load | |
| vous | chargiez | you used to load | |
| ils / elles | chargeaient | they used to load |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul chargeait les valises dans la voiture.
Back then, Paul used to load the suitcases into the car.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chargerai | I will load | |
| tu | chargeras | you will load | |
| il / elle / on | chargera | he / she / it will loadon: we will load / one will load | |
| nous | chargerons | we will load | |
| vous | chargerez | you will load | |
| ils / elles | chargeront | they will load |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul chargera les valises dans la voiture.
Later, Paul will load the suitcases into the car.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chargerais | I would load | |
| tu | chargerais | you would load | |
| il / elle / on | chargerait | he / she / it would loadon: we would load / one would load | |
| nous | chargerions | we would load | |
| vous | chargeriez | you would load | |
| ils / elles | chargeraient | they would load |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul chargerait les valises dans la voiture.
Paul would load the suitcases into the car.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | charge | (that) I load | |
| tu | charges | (that) you load | |
| il / elle / on | charge | (that) he / she / it loadson: (that) we load / one loads | |
| nous | chargions | (that) we load | |
| vous | chargiez | (that) you load | |
| ils / elles | chargent | (that) they load |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul charge les valises dans la voiture.
It is possible that Paul loads the suitcases into the car.
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 load (up) (vehicle, animal etc.)
- to load (firearm)
- to charge (battery)
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