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 hunt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chasse | I hunt | |
| tu | chasses | you hunt | |
| il / elle / on | chasse | he / she / it huntson: we hunt / one hunts | |
| nous | chassons | we hunt | |
| vous | chassez | you hunt | |
| ils / elles | chassent | they hunt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le renard chasse les petits rongeurs.
The fox hunts small rodents.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai chassé | I hunted | |
| tu | as chassé | you hunted | |
| il / elle / on | a chassé | he / she / it huntedon: we hunted / one hunted | |
| nous | avons chassé | we hunted | |
| vous | avez chassé | you hunted | |
| ils / elles | ont chassé | they hunted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le renard a chassé les petits rongeurs.
Yesterday, the fox hunted small rodents.
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’ | chassais | I used to hunt | |
| tu | chassais | you used to hunt | |
| il / elle / on | chassait | he / she / it used to hunton: we used to hunt / one used to hunt | |
| nous | chassions | we used to hunt | |
| vous | chassiez | you used to hunt | |
| ils / elles | chassaient | they used to hunt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le renard chassait les petits rongeurs.
Back then, the fox used to hunt small rodents.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chasserai | I will hunt | |
| tu | chasseras | you will hunt | |
| il / elle / on | chassera | he / she / it will hunton: we will hunt / one will hunt | |
| nous | chasserons | we will hunt | |
| vous | chasserez | you will hunt | |
| ils / elles | chasseront | they will hunt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le renard chassera les petits rongeurs.
Later, the fox will hunt small rodents.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chasserais | I would hunt | |
| tu | chasserais | you would hunt | |
| il / elle / on | chasserait | he / she / it would hunton: we would hunt / one would hunt | |
| nous | chasserions | we would hunt | |
| vous | chasseriez | you would hunt | |
| ils / elles | chasseraient | they would hunt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le renard chasserait les petits rongeurs.
The fox would hunt small rodents.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chasse | (that) I hunt | |
| tu | chasses | (that) you hunt | |
| il / elle / on | chasse | (that) he / she / it huntson: (that) we hunt / one hunts | |
| nous | chassions | (that) we hunt | |
| vous | chassiez | (that) you hunt | |
| ils / elles | chassent | (that) they hunt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le renard chasse les petits rongeurs.
It is possible that the fox hunts small rodents.
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 hunt
- to chase
- to drive off
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