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 make.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commets | I make | |
| tu | commets | you make | |
| il / elle / on | commet | he / she / it makeson: we make / one makes | |
| nous | commettons | we make | |
| vous | commettez | you make | |
| ils / elles | commettent | they make |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul commet une erreur dans le calcul.
Paul makes an error in the calculation.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai commis | I made | |
| tu | as commis | you made | |
| il / elle / on | a commis | he / she / it madeon: we made / one made | |
| nous | avons commis | we made | |
| vous | avez commis | you made | |
| ils / elles | ont commis | they made |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a commis une erreur dans le calcul.
Yesterday, Paul made an error in the calculation.
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’ | commettais | I used to make | |
| tu | commettais | you used to make | |
| il / elle / on | commettait | he / she / it used to makeon: we used to make / one used to make | |
| nous | commettions | we used to make | |
| vous | commettiez | you used to make | |
| ils / elles | commettaient | they used to make |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul commettait une erreur dans le calcul.
Back then, Paul used to make an error in the calculation.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commettrai | I will make | |
| tu | commettras | you will make | |
| il / elle / on | commettra | he / she / it will makeon: we will make / one will make | |
| nous | commettrons | we will make | |
| vous | commettrez | you will make | |
| ils / elles | commettront | they will make |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul commettra une erreur dans le calcul.
Later, Paul will make an error in the calculation.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commettrais | I would make | |
| tu | commettrais | you would make | |
| il / elle / on | commettrait | he / she / it would makeon: we would make / one would make | |
| nous | commettrions | we would make | |
| vous | commettriez | you would make | |
| ils / elles | commettraient | they would make |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul commettrait une erreur dans le calcul.
Paul would make an error in the calculation.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | commette | (that) I make | |
| tu | commettes | (that) you make | |
| il / elle / on | commette | (that) he / she / it makeson: (that) we make / one makes | |
| nous | commettions | (that) we make | |
| vous | commettiez | (that) you make | |
| ils / elles | commettent | (that) they make |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul commette une erreur dans le calcul.
It is possible that Paul makes an error in the calculation.
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 commit
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