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 drive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conduis | I drive | |
| tu | conduis | you drive | |
| il / elle / on | conduit | he / she / it driveson: we drive / one drives | |
| nous | conduisons | we drive | |
| vous | conduisez | you drive | |
| ils / elles | conduisent | they drive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul conduit une petite voiture.
Paul drives a small car.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai conduit | I drove | |
| tu | as conduit | you drove | |
| il / elle / on | a conduit | he / she / it droveon: we drove / one drove | |
| nous | avons conduit | we drove | |
| vous | avez conduit | you drove | |
| ils / elles | ont conduit | they drove |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a conduit une petite voiture.
Yesterday, Paul drove a small car.
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’ | conduisais | I used to drive | |
| tu | conduisais | you used to drive | |
| il / elle / on | conduisait | he / she / it used to driveon: we used to drive / one used to drive | |
| nous | conduisions | we used to drive | |
| vous | conduisiez | you used to drive | |
| ils / elles | conduisaient | they used to drive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul conduisait une petite voiture.
Back then, Paul used to drive a small car.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conduirai | I will drive | |
| tu | conduiras | you will drive | |
| il / elle / on | conduira | he / she / it will driveon: we will drive / one will drive | |
| nous | conduirons | we will drive | |
| vous | conduirez | you will drive | |
| ils / elles | conduiront | they will drive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul conduira une petite voiture.
Later, Paul will drive a small car.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conduirais | I would drive | |
| tu | conduirais | you would drive | |
| il / elle / on | conduirait | he / she / it would driveon: we would drive / one would drive | |
| nous | conduirions | we would drive | |
| vous | conduiriez | you would drive | |
| ils / elles | conduiraient | they would drive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul conduirait une petite voiture.
Paul would drive a small car.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conduise | (that) I drive | |
| tu | conduises | (that) you drive | |
| il / elle / on | conduise | (that) he / she / it driveson: (that) we drive / one drives | |
| nous | conduisions | (that) we drive | |
| vous | conduisiez | (that) you drive | |
| ils / elles | conduisent | (that) they drive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul conduise une petite voiture.
It is possible that Paul drives a small car.
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 drive (a vehicle)
- to lead, to conduct
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