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 contemplate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contemple | I contemplate | |
| tu | contemples | you contemplate | |
| il / elle / on | contemple | he / she / it contemplateson: we contemplate / one contemplates | |
| nous | contemplons | we contemplate | |
| vous | contemplez | you contemplate | |
| ils / elles | contemplent | they contemplate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul contemple le paysage depuis le balcon.
Paul contemplates the landscape from the balcony.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contemplé | I contemplated | |
| tu | as contemplé | you contemplated | |
| il / elle / on | a contemplé | he / she / it contemplatedon: we contemplated / one contemplated | |
| nous | avons contemplé | we contemplated | |
| vous | avez contemplé | you contemplated | |
| ils / elles | ont contemplé | they contemplated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a contemplé le paysage depuis le balcon.
Yesterday, Paul contemplated the landscape from the balcony.
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’ | contemplais | I used to contemplate | |
| tu | contemplais | you used to contemplate | |
| il / elle / on | contemplait | he / she / it used to contemplateon: we used to contemplate / one used to contemplate | |
| nous | contemplions | we used to contemplate | |
| vous | contempliez | you used to contemplate | |
| ils / elles | contemplaient | they used to contemplate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul contemplait le paysage depuis le balcon.
Back then, Paul used to contemplate the landscape from the balcony.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contemplerai | I will contemplate | |
| tu | contempleras | you will contemplate | |
| il / elle / on | contemplera | he / she / it will contemplateon: we will contemplate / one will contemplate | |
| nous | contemplerons | we will contemplate | |
| vous | contemplerez | you will contemplate | |
| ils / elles | contempleront | they will contemplate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul contemplera le paysage depuis le balcon.
Later, Paul will contemplate the landscape from the balcony.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contemplerais | I would contemplate | |
| tu | contemplerais | you would contemplate | |
| il / elle / on | contemplerait | he / she / it would contemplateon: we would contemplate / one would contemplate | |
| nous | contemplerions | we would contemplate | |
| vous | contempleriez | you would contemplate | |
| ils / elles | contempleraient | they would contemplate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul contemplerait le paysage depuis le balcon.
Paul would contemplate the landscape from the balcony.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contemple | (that) I contemplate | |
| tu | contemples | (that) you contemplate | |
| il / elle / on | contemple | (that) he / she / it contemplateson: (that) we contemplate / one contemplates | |
| nous | contemplions | (that) we contemplate | |
| vous | contempliez | (that) you contemplate | |
| ils / elles | contemplent | (that) they contemplate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul contemple le paysage depuis le balcon.
It is possible that Paul contemplates the landscape from the balcony.
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 contemplate
- to look at (with one's eyes)
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