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 look for.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cherche | I look for | |
| tu | cherches | you look for | |
| il / elle / on | cherche | he / she / it looks foron: we look for / one looks for | |
| nous | cherchons | we look for | |
| vous | cherchez | you look for | |
| ils / elles | cherchent | they look for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul cherche ses clés dans son sac.
Paul looks for his keys in his bag.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai cherché | I looked for | |
| tu | as cherché | you looked for | |
| il / elle / on | a cherché | he / she / it looked foron: we looked for / one looked for | |
| nous | avons cherché | we looked for | |
| vous | avez cherché | you looked for | |
| ils / elles | ont cherché | they looked for |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a cherché ses clés dans son sac.
Yesterday, Paul looked for his keys in his bag.
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’ | cherchais | I used to look for | |
| tu | cherchais | you used to look for | |
| il / elle / on | cherchait | he / she / it used to look foron: we used to look for / one used to look for | |
| nous | cherchions | we used to look for | |
| vous | cherchiez | you used to look for | |
| ils / elles | cherchaient | they used to look for |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul cherchait ses clés dans son sac.
Back then, Paul used to look for his keys in his bag.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chercherai | I will look for | |
| tu | chercheras | you will look for | |
| il / elle / on | cherchera | he / she / it will look foron: we will look for / one will look for | |
| nous | chercherons | we will look for | |
| vous | chercherez | you will look for | |
| ils / elles | chercheront | they will look for |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul cherchera ses clés dans son sac.
Later, Paul will look for his keys in his bag.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chercherais | I would look for | |
| tu | chercherais | you would look for | |
| il / elle / on | chercherait | he / she / it would look foron: we would look for / one would look for | |
| nous | chercherions | we would look for | |
| vous | chercheriez | you would look for | |
| ils / elles | chercheraient | they would look for |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul chercherait ses clés dans son sac.
Paul would look for his keys in his bag.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cherche | (that) I look for | |
| tu | cherches | (that) you look for | |
| il / elle / on | cherche | (that) he / she / it looks foron: (that) we look for / one looks for | |
| nous | cherchions | (that) we look for | |
| vous | cherchiez | (that) you look for | |
| ils / elles | cherchent | (that) they look for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul cherche ses clés dans son sac.
It is possible that Paul looks for his keys in his bag.
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 look for, to seek
- to look (to do something)
- to mess with someone, ask for trouble
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