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 compensate for.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compense | I compensate for | |
| tu | compenses | you compensate for | |
| il / elle / on | compense | he / she / it compensates foron: we compensate for / one compensates for | |
| nous | compensons | we compensate for | |
| vous | compensez | you compensate for | |
| ils / elles | compensent | they compensate for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Ce revenu compense la hausse des dépenses.
This income compensates for the increase in expenses.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai compensé | I compensated for | |
| tu | as compensé | you compensated for | |
| il / elle / on | a compensé | he / she / it compensated foron: we compensated for / one compensated for | |
| nous | avons compensé | we compensated for | |
| vous | avez compensé | you compensated for | |
| ils / elles | ont compensé | they compensated for |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, ce revenu a compensé la hausse des dépenses.
Yesterday, this income compensated for the increase in expenses.
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’ | compensais | I used to compensate for | |
| tu | compensais | you used to compensate for | |
| il / elle / on | compensait | he / she / it used to compensate foron: we used to compensate for / one used to compensate for | |
| nous | compensions | we used to compensate for | |
| vous | compensiez | you used to compensate for | |
| ils / elles | compensaient | they used to compensate for |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, ce revenu compensait la hausse des dépenses.
Back then, this income used to compensate for the increase in expenses.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compenserai | I will compensate for | |
| tu | compenseras | you will compensate for | |
| il / elle / on | compensera | he / she / it will compensate foron: we will compensate for / one will compensate for | |
| nous | compenserons | we will compensate for | |
| vous | compenserez | you will compensate for | |
| ils / elles | compenseront | they will compensate for |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, ce revenu compensera la hausse des dépenses.
Later, this income will compensate for the increase in expenses.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compenserais | I would compensate for | |
| tu | compenserais | you would compensate for | |
| il / elle / on | compenserait | he / she / it would compensate foron: we would compensate for / one would compensate for | |
| nous | compenserions | we would compensate for | |
| vous | compenseriez | you would compensate for | |
| ils / elles | compenseraient | they would compensate for |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Ce revenu compenserait la hausse des dépenses.
This income would compensate for the increase in expenses.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compense | (that) I compensate for | |
| tu | compenses | (that) you compensate for | |
| il / elle / on | compense | (that) he / she / it compensates foron: (that) we compensate for / one compensates for | |
| nous | compensions | (that) we compensate for | |
| vous | compensiez | (that) you compensate for | |
| ils / elles | compensent | (that) they compensate for |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que ce revenu compense la hausse des dépenses.
It is possible that this income compensates for the increase in expenses.
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 compensate for, to offset
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