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 cut.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | coupe | I cut | |
| tu | coupes | you cut | |
| il / elle / on | coupe | he / she / it cutson: we cut / one cuts | |
| nous | coupons | we cut | |
| vous | coupez | you cut | |
| ils / elles | coupent | they cut |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul coupe le pain en tranches.
Paul cuts the bread into slices.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai coupé | I cut | |
| tu | as coupé | you cut | |
| il / elle / on | a coupé | he / she / it cuton: we cut / one cut | |
| nous | avons coupé | we cut | |
| vous | avez coupé | you cut | |
| ils / elles | ont coupé | they cut |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a coupé le pain en tranches.
Yesterday, Paul cut the bread into slices.
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’ | coupais | I used to cut | |
| tu | coupais | you used to cut | |
| il / elle / on | coupait | he / she / it used to cuton: we used to cut / one used to cut | |
| nous | coupions | we used to cut | |
| vous | coupiez | you used to cut | |
| ils / elles | coupaient | they used to cut |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul coupait le pain en tranches.
Back then, Paul used to cut the bread into slices.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | couperai | I will cut | |
| tu | couperas | you will cut | |
| il / elle / on | coupera | he / she / it will cuton: we will cut / one will cut | |
| nous | couperons | we will cut | |
| vous | couperez | you will cut | |
| ils / elles | couperont | they will cut |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul coupera le pain en tranches.
Later, Paul will cut the bread into slices.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | couperais | I would cut | |
| tu | couperais | you would cut | |
| il / elle / on | couperait | he / she / it would cuton: we would cut / one would cut | |
| nous | couperions | we would cut | |
| vous | couperiez | you would cut | |
| ils / elles | couperaient | they would cut |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul couperait le pain en tranches.
Paul would cut the bread into slices.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | coupe | (that) I cut | |
| tu | coupes | (that) you cut | |
| il / elle / on | coupe | (that) he / she / it cutson: (that) we cut / one cuts | |
| nous | coupions | (that) we cut | |
| vous | coupiez | (that) you cut | |
| ils / elles | coupent | (that) they cut |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul coupe le pain en tranches.
It is possible that Paul cuts the bread into slices.
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 cut, cut up; to chop, to sever
- to cut, to clip, to trim
- to cut off, to keep out, to bar
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