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 continue.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | continue | I continue | |
| tu | continues | you continue | |
| il / elle / on | continue | he / she / it continueson: we continue / one continues | |
| nous | continuons | we continue | |
| vous | continuez | you continue | |
| ils / elles | continuent | they continue |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul continue son travail après la pause.
Paul continues his work after the break.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai continué | I continued | |
| tu | as continué | you continued | |
| il / elle / on | a continué | he / she / it continuedon: we continued / one continued | |
| nous | avons continué | we continued | |
| vous | avez continué | you continued | |
| ils / elles | ont continué | they continued |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a continué son travail après la pause.
Yesterday, Paul continued his work after the break.
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’ | continuais | I used to continue | |
| tu | continuais | you used to continue | |
| il / elle / on | continuait | he / she / it used to continueon: we used to continue / one used to continue | |
| nous | continuions | we used to continue | |
| vous | continuiez | you used to continue | |
| ils / elles | continuaient | they used to continue |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul continuait son travail après la pause.
Back then, Paul used to continue his work after the break.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | continuerai | I will continue | |
| tu | continueras | you will continue | |
| il / elle / on | continuera | he / she / it will continueon: we will continue / one will continue | |
| nous | continuerons | we will continue | |
| vous | continuerez | you will continue | |
| ils / elles | continueront | they will continue |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul continuera son travail après la pause.
Later, Paul will continue his work after the break.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | continuerais | I would continue | |
| tu | continuerais | you would continue | |
| il / elle / on | continuerait | he / she / it would continueon: we would continue / one would continue | |
| nous | continuerions | we would continue | |
| vous | continueriez | you would continue | |
| ils / elles | continueraient | they would continue |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul continuerait son travail après la pause.
Paul would continue his work after the break.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | continue | (that) I continue | |
| tu | continues | (that) you continue | |
| il / elle / on | continue | (that) he / she / it continueson: (that) we continue / one continues | |
| nous | continuions | (that) we continue | |
| vous | continuiez | (that) you continue | |
| ils / elles | continuent | (that) they continue |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul continue son travail après la pause.
It is possible that Paul continues his work after the break.
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 continue
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