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 go around.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contourne | I go around | |
| tu | contournes | you go around | |
| il / elle / on | contourne | he / she / it goes aroundon: we go around / one goes around | |
| nous | contournons | we go around | |
| vous | contournez | you go around | |
| ils / elles | contournent | they go around |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul contourne le chantier.
Paul goes around the construction site.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai contourné | I went around | |
| tu | as contourné | you went around | |
| il / elle / on | a contourné | he / she / it went aroundon: we went around / one went around | |
| nous | avons contourné | we went around | |
| vous | avez contourné | you went around | |
| ils / elles | ont contourné | they went around |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a contourné le chantier.
Yesterday, Paul went around the construction site.
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’ | contournais | I used to go around | |
| tu | contournais | you used to go around | |
| il / elle / on | contournait | he / she / it used to go aroundon: we used to go around / one used to go around | |
| nous | contournions | we used to go around | |
| vous | contourniez | you used to go around | |
| ils / elles | contournaient | they used to go around |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul contournait le chantier.
Back then, Paul used to go around the construction site.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contournerai | I will go around | |
| tu | contourneras | you will go around | |
| il / elle / on | contournera | he / she / it will go aroundon: we will go around / one will go around | |
| nous | contournerons | we will go around | |
| vous | contournerez | you will go around | |
| ils / elles | contourneront | they will go around |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul contournera le chantier.
Later, Paul will go around the construction site.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contournerais | I would go around | |
| tu | contournerais | you would go around | |
| il / elle / on | contournerait | he / she / it would go aroundon: we would go around / one would go around | |
| nous | contournerions | we would go around | |
| vous | contourneriez | you would go around | |
| ils / elles | contourneraient | they would go around |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul contournerait le chantier.
Paul would go around the construction site.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | contourne | (that) I go around | |
| tu | contournes | (that) you go around | |
| il / elle / on | contourne | (that) he / she / it goes aroundon: (that) we go around / one goes around | |
| nous | contournions | (that) we go around | |
| vous | contourniez | (that) you go around | |
| ils / elles | contournent | (that) they go around |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul contourne le chantier.
It is possible that Paul goes around the construction site.
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 circumvent, to bypass, to skirt around
- to travel from one place to another, to visit several places
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