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 communicate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | communique | I communicate | |
| tu | communiques | you communicate | |
| il / elle / on | communique | he / she / it communicateson: we communicate / one communicates | |
| nous | communiquons | we communicate | |
| vous | communiquez | you communicate | |
| ils / elles | communiquent | they communicate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul communique avec ses collègues par courrier.
Paul communicates with his colleagues by mail.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai communiqué | I communicated | |
| tu | as communiqué | you communicated | |
| il / elle / on | a communiqué | he / she / it communicatedon: we communicated / one communicated | |
| nous | avons communiqué | we communicated | |
| vous | avez communiqué | you communicated | |
| ils / elles | ont communiqué | they communicated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a communiqué avec ses collègues par courrier.
Yesterday, Paul communicated with his colleagues by mail.
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’ | communiquais | I used to communicate | |
| tu | communiquais | you used to communicate | |
| il / elle / on | communiquait | he / she / it used to communicateon: we used to communicate / one used to communicate | |
| nous | communiquions | we used to communicate | |
| vous | communiquiez | you used to communicate | |
| ils / elles | communiquaient | they used to communicate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul communiquait avec ses collègues par courrier.
Back then, Paul used to communicate with his colleagues by mail.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | communiquerai | I will communicate | |
| tu | communiqueras | you will communicate | |
| il / elle / on | communiquera | he / she / it will communicateon: we will communicate / one will communicate | |
| nous | communiquerons | we will communicate | |
| vous | communiquerez | you will communicate | |
| ils / elles | communiqueront | they will communicate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul communiquera avec ses collègues par courrier.
Later, Paul will communicate with his colleagues by mail.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | communiquerais | I would communicate | |
| tu | communiquerais | you would communicate | |
| il / elle / on | communiquerait | he / she / it would communicateon: we would communicate / one would communicate | |
| nous | communiquerions | we would communicate | |
| vous | communiqueriez | you would communicate | |
| ils / elles | communiqueraient | they would communicate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul communiquerait avec ses collègues par courrier.
Paul would communicate with his colleagues by mail.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | communique | (that) I communicate | |
| tu | communiques | (that) you communicate | |
| il / elle / on | communique | (that) he / she / it communicateson: (that) we communicate / one communicates | |
| nous | communiquions | (that) we communicate | |
| vous | communiquiez | (that) you communicate | |
| ils / elles | communiquent | (that) they communicate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul communique avec ses collègues par courrier.
It is possible that Paul communicates with his colleagues by mail.
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 communicate
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