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 confuse.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confonds | I confuse | |
| tu | confonds | you confuse | |
| il / elle / on | confond | he / she / it confuseson: we confuse / one confuses | |
| nous | confondons | we confuse | |
| vous | confondez | you confuse | |
| ils / elles | confondent | they confuse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul confond le sel avec le sucre.
Paul confuses salt with sugar.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai confondu | I confused | |
| tu | as confondu | you confused | |
| il / elle / on | a confondu | he / she / it confusedon: we confused / one confused | |
| nous | avons confondu | we confused | |
| vous | avez confondu | you confused | |
| ils / elles | ont confondu | they confused |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a confondu le sel avec le sucre.
Yesterday, Paul confused salt with sugar.
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’ | confondais | I used to confuse | |
| tu | confondais | you used to confuse | |
| il / elle / on | confondait | he / she / it used to confuseon: we used to confuse / one used to confuse | |
| nous | confondions | we used to confuse | |
| vous | confondiez | you used to confuse | |
| ils / elles | confondaient | they used to confuse |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul confondait le sel avec le sucre.
Back then, Paul used to confuse salt with sugar.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confondrai | I will confuse | |
| tu | confondras | you will confuse | |
| il / elle / on | confondra | he / she / it will confuseon: we will confuse / one will confuse | |
| nous | confondrons | we will confuse | |
| vous | confondrez | you will confuse | |
| ils / elles | confondront | they will confuse |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul confondra le sel avec le sucre.
Later, Paul will confuse salt with sugar.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confondrais | I would confuse | |
| tu | confondrais | you would confuse | |
| il / elle / on | confondrait | he / she / it would confuseon: we would confuse / one would confuse | |
| nous | confondrions | we would confuse | |
| vous | confondriez | you would confuse | |
| ils / elles | confondraient | they would confuse |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul confondrait le sel avec le sucre.
Paul would confuse salt with sugar.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confonde | (that) I confuse | |
| tu | confondes | (that) you confuse | |
| il / elle / on | confonde | (that) he / she / it confuseson: (that) we confuse / one confuses | |
| nous | confondions | (that) we confuse | |
| vous | confondiez | (that) you confuse | |
| ils / elles | confondent | (that) they confuse |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul confonde le sel avec le sucre.
It is possible that Paul confuses salt with sugar.
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 confuse, to confound
- to confuse (one thing with another), to mistake (one thing for another)
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