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 count.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compte | I count | |
| tu | comptes | you count | |
| il / elle / on | compte | he / she / it countson: we count / one counts | |
| nous | comptons | we count | |
| vous | comptez | you count | |
| ils / elles | comptent | they count |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul compte les chaises dans la salle.
Paul counts the chairs in the room.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai compté | I counted | |
| tu | as compté | you counted | |
| il / elle / on | a compté | he / she / it countedon: we counted / one counted | |
| nous | avons compté | we counted | |
| vous | avez compté | you counted | |
| ils / elles | ont compté | they counted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a compté les chaises dans la salle.
Yesterday, Paul counted the chairs in the room.
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’ | comptais | I used to count | |
| tu | comptais | you used to count | |
| il / elle / on | comptait | he / she / it used to counton: we used to count / one used to count | |
| nous | comptions | we used to count | |
| vous | comptiez | you used to count | |
| ils / elles | comptaient | they used to count |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul comptait les chaises dans la salle.
Back then, Paul used to count the chairs in the room.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compterai | I will count | |
| tu | compteras | you will count | |
| il / elle / on | comptera | he / she / it will counton: we will count / one will count | |
| nous | compterons | we will count | |
| vous | compterez | you will count | |
| ils / elles | compteront | they will count |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul comptera les chaises dans la salle.
Later, Paul will count the chairs in the room.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compterais | I would count | |
| tu | compterais | you would count | |
| il / elle / on | compterait | he / she / it would counton: we would count / one would count | |
| nous | compterions | we would count | |
| vous | compteriez | you would count | |
| ils / elles | compteraient | they would count |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul compterait les chaises dans la salle.
Paul would count the chairs in the room.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | compte | (that) I count | |
| tu | comptes | (that) you count | |
| il / elle / on | compte | (that) he / she / it countson: (that) we count / one counts | |
| nous | comptions | (that) we count | |
| vous | comptiez | (that) you count | |
| ils / elles | comptent | (that) they count |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul compte les chaises dans la salle.
It is possible that Paul counts the chairs in the room.
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 count
- to reckon, allow
- to include; to comprise, to consist of
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