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 steal.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chope | I steal | |
| tu | chopes | you steal | |
| il / elle / on | chope | he / she / it stealson: we steal / one steals | |
| nous | chopons | we steal | |
| vous | chopez | you steal | |
| ils / elles | chopent | they steal |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le voleur chope un portefeuille dans le métro.
The thief steals a wallet on the subway.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai chopé | I stole | |
| tu | as chopé | you stole | |
| il / elle / on | a chopé | he / she / it stoleon: we stole / one stole | |
| nous | avons chopé | we stole | |
| vous | avez chopé | you stole | |
| ils / elles | ont chopé | they stole |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le voleur a chopé un portefeuille dans le métro.
Yesterday, the thief stole a wallet on the subway.
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’ | chopais | I used to steal | |
| tu | chopais | you used to steal | |
| il / elle / on | chopait | he / she / it used to stealon: we used to steal / one used to steal | |
| nous | chopions | we used to steal | |
| vous | chopiez | you used to steal | |
| ils / elles | chopaient | they used to steal |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le voleur chopait un portefeuille dans le métro.
Back then, the thief used to steal a wallet on the subway.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | choperai | I will steal | |
| tu | choperas | you will steal | |
| il / elle / on | chopera | he / she / it will stealon: we will steal / one will steal | |
| nous | choperons | we will steal | |
| vous | choperez | you will steal | |
| ils / elles | choperont | they will steal |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le voleur chopera un portefeuille dans le métro.
Later, the thief will steal a wallet on the subway.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | choperais | I would steal | |
| tu | choperais | you would steal | |
| il / elle / on | choperait | he / she / it would stealon: we would steal / one would steal | |
| nous | choperions | we would steal | |
| vous | choperiez | you would steal | |
| ils / elles | choperaient | they would steal |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le voleur choperait un portefeuille dans le métro.
The thief would steal a wallet on the subway.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | chope | (that) I steal | |
| tu | chopes | (that) you steal | |
| il / elle / on | chope | (that) he / she / it stealson: (that) we steal / one steals | |
| nous | chopions | (that) we steal | |
| vous | chopiez | (that) you steal | |
| ils / elles | chopent | (that) they steal |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le voleur chope un portefeuille dans le métro.
It is possible that the thief steals a wallet on the subway.
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.”
Choper is informal. Here it means steal.
Meaning & usage
- to steal, nick, pinch
- to arrest, catch
- to pick up, collect a passenger
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