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 contact.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contacte | I contact | |
| tu | contactes | you contact | |
| il / elle / on | contacte | he / she / it contactson: we contact / one contacts | |
| nous | contactons | we contact | |
| vous | contactez | you contact | |
| ils / elles | contactent | they contact |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul contacte le propriétaire par téléphone.
Paul contacts the owner by phone.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contacté | I contacted | |
| tu | as contacté | you contacted | |
| il / elle / on | a contacté | he / she / it contactedon: we contacted / one contacted | |
| nous | avons contacté | we contacted | |
| vous | avez contacté | you contacted | |
| ils / elles | ont contacté | they contacted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a contacté le propriétaire par téléphone.
Yesterday, Paul contacted the owner by phone.
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’ | contactais | I used to contact | |
| tu | contactais | you used to contact | |
| il / elle / on | contactait | he / she / it used to contacton: we used to contact / one used to contact | |
| nous | contactions | we used to contact | |
| vous | contactiez | you used to contact | |
| ils / elles | contactaient | they used to contact |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul contactait le propriétaire par téléphone.
Back then, Paul used to contact the owner by phone.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contacterai | I will contact | |
| tu | contacteras | you will contact | |
| il / elle / on | contactera | he / she / it will contacton: we will contact / one will contact | |
| nous | contacterons | we will contact | |
| vous | contacterez | you will contact | |
| ils / elles | contacteront | they will contact |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul contactera le propriétaire par téléphone.
Later, Paul will contact the owner by phone.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contacterais | I would contact | |
| tu | contacterais | you would contact | |
| il / elle / on | contacterait | he / she / it would contacton: we would contact / one would contact | |
| nous | contacterions | we would contact | |
| vous | contacteriez | you would contact | |
| ils / elles | contacteraient | they would contact |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul contacterait le propriétaire par téléphone.
Paul would contact the owner by phone.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contacte | (that) I contact | |
| tu | contactes | (that) you contact | |
| il / elle / on | contacte | (that) he / she / it contactson: (that) we contact / one contacts | |
| nous | contactions | (that) we contact | |
| vous | contactiez | (that) you contact | |
| ils / elles | contactent | (that) they contact |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul contacte le propriétaire par téléphone.
It is possible that Paul contacts the owner by phone.
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 contact (all senses)
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