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 compare.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compare | I compare | |
| tu | compares | you compare | |
| il / elle / on | compare | he / she / it compareson: we compare / one compares | |
| nous | comparons | we compare | |
| vous | comparez | you compare | |
| ils / elles | comparent | they compare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul compare les prix des deux vélos.
Paul compares the prices of the two bicycles.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai comparé | I compared | |
| tu | as comparé | you compared | |
| il / elle / on | a comparé | he / she / it comparedon: we compared / one compared | |
| nous | avons comparé | we compared | |
| vous | avez comparé | you compared | |
| ils / elles | ont comparé | they compared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a comparé les prix des deux vélos.
Yesterday, Paul compared the prices of the two bicycles.
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’ | comparais | I used to compare | |
| tu | comparais | you used to compare | |
| il / elle / on | comparait | he / she / it used to compareon: we used to compare / one used to compare | |
| nous | comparions | we used to compare | |
| vous | compariez | you used to compare | |
| ils / elles | comparaient | they used to compare |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul comparait les prix des deux vélos.
Back then, Paul used to compare the prices of the two bicycles.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | comparerai | I will compare | |
| tu | compareras | you will compare | |
| il / elle / on | comparera | he / she / it will compareon: we will compare / one will compare | |
| nous | comparerons | we will compare | |
| vous | comparerez | you will compare | |
| ils / elles | compareront | they will compare |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul comparera les prix des deux vélos.
Later, Paul will compare the prices of the two bicycles.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | comparerais | I would compare | |
| tu | comparerais | you would compare | |
| il / elle / on | comparerait | he / she / it would compareon: we would compare / one would compare | |
| nous | comparerions | we would compare | |
| vous | compareriez | you would compare | |
| ils / elles | compareraient | they would compare |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul comparerait les prix des deux vélos.
Paul would compare the prices of the two bicycles.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compare | (that) I compare | |
| tu | compares | (that) you compare | |
| il / elle / on | compare | (that) he / she / it compareson: (that) we compare / one compares | |
| nous | comparions | (that) we compare | |
| vous | compariez | (that) you compare | |
| ils / elles | comparent | (that) they compare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul compare les prix des deux vélos.
It is possible that Paul compares the prices of the two bicycles.
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 compare
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