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 keep.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conserve | I keep | |
| tu | conserves | you keep | |
| il / elle / on | conserve | he / she / it keepson: we keep / one keeps | |
| nous | conservons | we keep | |
| vous | conservez | you keep | |
| ils / elles | conservent | they keep |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul conserve les photos dans une boîte.
Paul keeps the photos in a box.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai conservé | I kept | |
| tu | as conservé | you kept | |
| il / elle / on | a conservé | he / she / it kepton: we kept / one kept | |
| nous | avons conservé | we kept | |
| vous | avez conservé | you kept | |
| ils / elles | ont conservé | they kept |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a conservé les photos dans une boîte.
Yesterday, Paul kept the photos in a box.
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’ | conservais | I used to keep | |
| tu | conservais | you used to keep | |
| il / elle / on | conservait | he / she / it used to keepon: we used to keep / one used to keep | |
| nous | conservions | we used to keep | |
| vous | conserviez | you used to keep | |
| ils / elles | conservaient | they used to keep |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul conservait les photos dans une boîte.
Back then, Paul used to keep the photos in a box.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conserverai | I will keep | |
| tu | conserveras | you will keep | |
| il / elle / on | conservera | he / she / it will keepon: we will keep / one will keep | |
| nous | conserverons | we will keep | |
| vous | conserverez | you will keep | |
| ils / elles | conserveront | they will keep |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul conservera les photos dans une boîte.
Later, Paul will keep the photos in a box.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conserverais | I would keep | |
| tu | conserverais | you would keep | |
| il / elle / on | conserverait | he / she / it would keepon: we would keep / one would keep | |
| nous | conserverions | we would keep | |
| vous | conserveriez | you would keep | |
| ils / elles | conserveraient | they would keep |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul conserverait les photos dans une boîte.
Paul would keep the photos in a box.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conserve | (that) I keep | |
| tu | conserves | (that) you keep | |
| il / elle / on | conserve | (that) he / she / it keepson: (that) we keep / one keeps | |
| nous | conservions | (that) we keep | |
| vous | conserviez | (that) you keep | |
| ils / elles | conservent | (that) they keep |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul conserve les photos dans une boîte.
It is possible that Paul keeps the photos in a box.
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 keep (in a particular place)
- to retain, conserve, preserve
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