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 fear.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crains | I fear | |
| tu | crains | you fear | |
| il / elle / on | craint | he / she / it fearson: we fear / one fears | |
| nous | craignons | we fear | |
| vous | craignez | you fear | |
| ils / elles | craignent | they fear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul craint les orages en montagne.
Paul fears thunderstorms in the mountains.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai craint | I feared | |
| tu | as craint | you feared | |
| il / elle / on | a craint | he / she / it fearedon: we feared / one feared | |
| nous | avons craint | we feared | |
| vous | avez craint | you feared | |
| ils / elles | ont craint | they feared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a craint les orages en montagne.
Yesterday, Paul feared thunderstorms in the mountains.
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’ | craignais | I used to fear | |
| tu | craignais | you used to fear | |
| il / elle / on | craignait | he / she / it used to fearon: we used to fear / one used to fear | |
| nous | craignions | we used to fear | |
| vous | craigniez | you used to fear | |
| ils / elles | craignaient | they used to fear |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul craignait les orages en montagne.
Back then, Paul used to fear thunderstorms in the mountains.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | craindrai | I will fear | |
| tu | craindras | you will fear | |
| il / elle / on | craindra | he / she / it will fearon: we will fear / one will fear | |
| nous | craindrons | we will fear | |
| vous | craindrez | you will fear | |
| ils / elles | craindront | they will fear |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul craindra les orages en montagne.
Later, Paul will fear thunderstorms in the mountains.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | craindrais | I would fear | |
| tu | craindrais | you would fear | |
| il / elle / on | craindrait | he / she / it would fearon: we would fear / one would fear | |
| nous | craindrions | we would fear | |
| vous | craindriez | you would fear | |
| ils / elles | craindraient | they would fear |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul craindrait les orages en montagne.
Paul would fear thunderstorms in the mountains.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | craigne | (that) I fear | |
| tu | craignes | (that) you fear | |
| il / elle / on | craigne | (that) he / she / it fearson: (that) we fear / one fears | |
| nous | craignions | (that) we fear | |
| vous | craigniez | (that) you fear | |
| ils / elles | craignent | (that) they fear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul craigne les orages en montagne.
It is possible that Paul fears thunderstorms in the mountains.
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 fear
- to suck (to be unwanted or bad)
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