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 challenge.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conteste | I challenge | |
| tu | contestes | you challenge | |
| il / elle / on | conteste | he / she / it challengeson: we challenge / one challenges | |
| nous | contestons | we challenge | |
| vous | contestez | you challenge | |
| ils / elles | contestent | they challenge |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul conteste le montant de la facture.
Paul challenges the amount of the bill.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contesté | I challenged | |
| tu | as contesté | you challenged | |
| il / elle / on | a contesté | he / she / it challengedon: we challenged / one challenged | |
| nous | avons contesté | we challenged | |
| vous | avez contesté | you challenged | |
| ils / elles | ont contesté | they challenged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a contesté le montant de la facture.
Yesterday, Paul challenged the amount of the bill.
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’ | contestais | I used to challenge | |
| tu | contestais | you used to challenge | |
| il / elle / on | contestait | he / she / it used to challengeon: we used to challenge / one used to challenge | |
| nous | contestions | we used to challenge | |
| vous | contestiez | you used to challenge | |
| ils / elles | contestaient | they used to challenge |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul contestait le montant de la facture.
Back then, Paul used to challenge the amount of the bill.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contesterai | I will challenge | |
| tu | contesteras | you will challenge | |
| il / elle / on | contestera | he / she / it will challengeon: we will challenge / one will challenge | |
| nous | contesterons | we will challenge | |
| vous | contesterez | you will challenge | |
| ils / elles | contesteront | they will challenge |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul contestera le montant de la facture.
Later, Paul will challenge the amount of the bill.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contesterais | I would challenge | |
| tu | contesterais | you would challenge | |
| il / elle / on | contesterait | he / she / it would challengeon: we would challenge / one would challenge | |
| nous | contesterions | we would challenge | |
| vous | contesteriez | you would challenge | |
| ils / elles | contesteraient | they would challenge |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul contesterait le montant de la facture.
Paul would challenge the amount of the bill.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | conteste | (that) I challenge | |
| tu | contestes | (that) you challenge | |
| il / elle / on | conteste | (that) he / she / it challengeson: (that) we challenge / one challenges | |
| nous | contestions | (that) we challenge | |
| vous | contestiez | (that) you challenge | |
| ils / elles | contestent | (that) they challenge |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul conteste le montant de la facture.
It is possible that Paul challenges the amount of the bill.
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 contest; to challenge; to dispute
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