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 order.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commande | I order | |
| tu | commandes | you order | |
| il / elle / on | commande | he / she / it orderson: we order / one orders | |
| nous | commandons | we order | |
| vous | commandez | you order | |
| ils / elles | commandent | they order |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul commande à son chien de s'asseoir.
Paul orders his dog to sit.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai commandé | I ordered | |
| tu | as commandé | you ordered | |
| il / elle / on | a commandé | he / she / it orderedon: we ordered / one ordered | |
| nous | avons commandé | we ordered | |
| vous | avez commandé | you ordered | |
| ils / elles | ont commandé | they ordered |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a commandé à son chien de s'asseoir.
Yesterday, Paul ordered his dog to sit.
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’ | commandais | I used to order | |
| tu | commandais | you used to order | |
| il / elle / on | commandait | he / she / it used to orderon: we used to order / one used to order | |
| nous | commandions | we used to order | |
| vous | commandiez | you used to order | |
| ils / elles | commandaient | they used to order |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul commandait à son chien de s'asseoir.
Back then, Paul used to order his dog to sit.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commanderai | I will order | |
| tu | commanderas | you will order | |
| il / elle / on | commandera | he / she / it will orderon: we will order / one will order | |
| nous | commanderons | we will order | |
| vous | commanderez | you will order | |
| ils / elles | commanderont | they will order |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul commandera à son chien de s'asseoir.
Later, Paul will order his dog to sit.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commanderais | I would order | |
| tu | commanderais | you would order | |
| il / elle / on | commanderait | he / she / it would orderon: we would order / one would order | |
| nous | commanderions | we would order | |
| vous | commanderiez | you would order | |
| ils / elles | commanderaient | they would order |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul commanderait à son chien de s'asseoir.
Paul would order his dog to sit.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commande | (that) I order | |
| tu | commandes | (that) you order | |
| il / elle / on | commande | (that) he / she / it orderson: (that) we order / one orders | |
| nous | commandions | (that) we order | |
| vous | commandiez | (that) you order | |
| ils / elles | commandent | (that) they order |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul commande à son chien de s'asseoir.
It is possible that Paul orders his dog to sit.
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 order (tell someone to do something)
- to order (ask for a product)
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