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 begin.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commence | I begin | |
| tu | commences | you begin | |
| il / elle / on | commence | he / she / it beginson: we begin / one begins | |
| nous | commençons | we begin | |
| vous | commencez | you begin | |
| ils / elles | commencent | they begin |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul commence un nouveau livre.
Paul begins a new book.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai commencé | I began | |
| tu | as commencé | you began | |
| il / elle / on | a commencé | he / she / it beganon: we began / one began | |
| nous | avons commencé | we began | |
| vous | avez commencé | you began | |
| ils / elles | ont commencé | they began |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a commencé un nouveau livre.
Yesterday, Paul began a new book.
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’ | commençais | I used to begin | |
| tu | commençais | you used to begin | |
| il / elle / on | commençait | he / she / it used to beginon: we used to begin / one used to begin | |
| nous | commencions | we used to begin | |
| vous | commenciez | you used to begin | |
| ils / elles | commençaient | they used to begin |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul commençait un nouveau livre.
Back then, Paul used to begin a new book.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commencerai | I will begin | |
| tu | commenceras | you will begin | |
| il / elle / on | commencera | he / she / it will beginon: we will begin / one will begin | |
| nous | commencerons | we will begin | |
| vous | commencerez | you will begin | |
| ils / elles | commenceront | they will begin |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul commencera un nouveau livre.
Later, Paul will begin a new book.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commencerais | I would begin | |
| tu | commencerais | you would begin | |
| il / elle / on | commencerait | he / she / it would beginon: we would begin / one would begin | |
| nous | commencerions | we would begin | |
| vous | commenceriez | you would begin | |
| ils / elles | commenceraient | they would begin |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul commencerait un nouveau livre.
Paul would begin a new book.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commence | (that) I begin | |
| tu | commences | (that) you begin | |
| il / elle / on | commence | (that) he / she / it beginson: (that) we begin / one begins | |
| nous | commencions | (that) we begin | |
| vous | commenciez | (that) you begin | |
| ils / elles | commencent | (that) they begin |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul commence un nouveau livre.
It is possible that Paul begins a new book.
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 begin, commence
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