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 fight.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | combats | I fight | |
| tu | combats | you fight | |
| il / elle / on | combat | he / she / it fightson: we fight / one fights | |
| nous | combattons | we fight | |
| vous | combattez | you fight | |
| ils / elles | combattent | they fight |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul combat les préjugés.
Paul fights prejudice.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai combattu | I fought | |
| tu | as combattu | you fought | |
| il / elle / on | a combattu | he / she / it foughton: we fought / one fought | |
| nous | avons combattu | we fought | |
| vous | avez combattu | you fought | |
| ils / elles | ont combattu | they fought |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a combattu les préjugés.
Yesterday, Paul fought prejudice.
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’ | combattais | I used to fight | |
| tu | combattais | you used to fight | |
| il / elle / on | combattait | he / she / it used to fighton: we used to fight / one used to fight | |
| nous | combattions | we used to fight | |
| vous | combattiez | you used to fight | |
| ils / elles | combattaient | they used to fight |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul combattait les préjugés.
Back then, Paul used to fight prejudice.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | combattrai | I will fight | |
| tu | combattras | you will fight | |
| il / elle / on | combattra | he / she / it will fighton: we will fight / one will fight | |
| nous | combattrons | we will fight | |
| vous | combattrez | you will fight | |
| ils / elles | combattront | they will fight |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul combattra les préjugés.
Later, Paul will fight prejudice.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | combattrais | I would fight | |
| tu | combattrais | you would fight | |
| il / elle / on | combattrait | he / she / it would fighton: we would fight / one would fight | |
| nous | combattrions | we would fight | |
| vous | combattriez | you would fight | |
| ils / elles | combattraient | they would fight |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul combattrait les préjugés.
Paul would fight prejudice.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | combatte | (that) I fight | |
| tu | combattes | (that) you fight | |
| il / elle / on | combatte | (that) he / she / it fightson: (that) we fight / one fights | |
| nous | combattions | (that) we fight | |
| vous | combattiez | (that) you fight | |
| ils / elles | combattent | (that) they fight |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul combatte les préjugés.
It is possible that Paul fights prejudice.
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 fight, to combat (against)
- to oppose, to struggle
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