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 consume.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consomme | I consume | |
| tu | consommes | you consume | |
| il / elle / on | consomme | he / she / it consumeson: we consume / one consumes | |
| nous | consommons | we consume | |
| vous | consommez | you consume | |
| ils / elles | consomment | they consume |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Ce moteur consomme peu de carburant.
This engine consumes little fuel.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai consommé | I consumed | |
| tu | as consommé | you consumed | |
| il / elle / on | a consommé | he / she / it consumedon: we consumed / one consumed | |
| nous | avons consommé | we consumed | |
| vous | avez consommé | you consumed | |
| ils / elles | ont consommé | they consumed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, ce moteur a consommé peu de carburant.
Yesterday, this engine consumed little fuel.
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’ | consommais | I used to consume | |
| tu | consommais | you used to consume | |
| il / elle / on | consommait | he / she / it used to consumeon: we used to consume / one used to consume | |
| nous | consommions | we used to consume | |
| vous | consommiez | you used to consume | |
| ils / elles | consommaient | they used to consume |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, ce moteur consommait peu de carburant.
Back then, this engine used to consume little fuel.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consommerai | I will consume | |
| tu | consommeras | you will consume | |
| il / elle / on | consommera | he / she / it will consumeon: we will consume / one will consume | |
| nous | consommerons | we will consume | |
| vous | consommerez | you will consume | |
| ils / elles | consommeront | they will consume |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, ce moteur consommera peu de carburant.
Later, this engine will consume little fuel.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consommerais | I would consume | |
| tu | consommerais | you would consume | |
| il / elle / on | consommerait | he / she / it would consumeon: we would consume / one would consume | |
| nous | consommerions | we would consume | |
| vous | consommeriez | you would consume | |
| ils / elles | consommeraient | they would consume |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Ce moteur consommerait peu de carburant.
This engine would consume little fuel.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | consomme | (that) I consume | |
| tu | consommes | (that) you consume | |
| il / elle / on | consomme | (that) he / she / it consumeson: (that) we consume / one consumes | |
| nous | consommions | (that) we consume | |
| vous | consommiez | (that) you consume | |
| ils / elles | consomment | (that) they consume |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que ce moteur consomme peu de carburant.
It is possible that this engine consumes little fuel.
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 consume; to ingest
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