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’ | confronte | I compare | |
| tu | confrontes | you compare | |
| il / elle / on | confronte | he / she / it compareson: we compare / one compares | |
| nous | confrontons | we compare | |
| vous | confrontez | you compare | |
| ils / elles | confrontent | they compare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul confronte les deux versions du récit.
Paul compares the two versions of the story.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai confronté | I compared | |
| tu | as confronté | you compared | |
| il / elle / on | a confronté | he / she / it comparedon: we compared / one compared | |
| nous | avons confronté | we compared | |
| vous | avez confronté | you compared | |
| ils / elles | ont confronté | they compared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a confronté les deux versions du récit.
Yesterday, Paul compared the two versions of the story.
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’ | confrontais | I used to compare | |
| tu | confrontais | you used to compare | |
| il / elle / on | confrontait | he / she / it used to compareon: we used to compare / one used to compare | |
| nous | confrontions | we used to compare | |
| vous | confrontiez | you used to compare | |
| ils / elles | confrontaient | they used to compare |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul confrontait les deux versions du récit.
Back then, Paul used to compare the two versions of the story.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confronterai | I will compare | |
| tu | confronteras | you will compare | |
| il / elle / on | confrontera | he / she / it will compareon: we will compare / one will compare | |
| nous | confronterons | we will compare | |
| vous | confronterez | you will compare | |
| ils / elles | confronteront | they will compare |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul confrontera les deux versions du récit.
Later, Paul will compare the two versions of the story.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confronterais | I would compare | |
| tu | confronterais | you would compare | |
| il / elle / on | confronterait | he / she / it would compareon: we would compare / one would compare | |
| nous | confronterions | we would compare | |
| vous | confronteriez | you would compare | |
| ils / elles | confronteraient | they would compare |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul confronterait les deux versions du récit.
Paul would compare the two versions of the story.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | confronte | (that) I compare | |
| tu | confrontes | (that) you compare | |
| il / elle / on | confronte | (that) he / she / it compareson: (that) we compare / one compares | |
| nous | confrontions | (that) we compare | |
| vous | confrontiez | (that) you compare | |
| ils / elles | confrontent | (that) they compare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul confronte les deux versions du récit.
It is possible that Paul compares the two versions of the story.
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.”
The example uses confronter in the sense compare two accounts, not simply put someone in difficulty.
Meaning & usage
- to confront
- to contrast, 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