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 shout.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crie | I shout | |
| tu | cries | you shout | |
| il / elle / on | crie | he / she / it shoutson: we shout / one shouts | |
| nous | crions | we shout | |
| vous | criez | you shout | |
| ils / elles | crient | they shout |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul crie pour appeler son frère.
Paul shouts to call his brother.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai crié | I shouted | |
| tu | as crié | you shouted | |
| il / elle / on | a crié | he / she / it shoutedon: we shouted / one shouted | |
| nous | avons crié | we shouted | |
| vous | avez crié | you shouted | |
| ils / elles | ont crié | they shouted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a crié pour appeler son frère.
Yesterday, Paul shouted to call his brother.
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’ | criais | I used to shout | |
| tu | criais | you used to shout | |
| il / elle / on | criait | he / she / it used to shouton: we used to shout / one used to shout | |
| nous | criions | we used to shout | |
| vous | criiez | you used to shout | |
| ils / elles | criaient | they used to shout |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul criait pour appeler son frère.
Back then, Paul used to shout to call his brother.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crierai | I will shout | |
| tu | crieras | you will shout | |
| il / elle / on | criera | he / she / it will shouton: we will shout / one will shout | |
| nous | crierons | we will shout | |
| vous | crierez | you will shout | |
| ils / elles | crieront | they will shout |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul criera pour appeler son frère.
Later, Paul will shout to call his brother.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crierais | I would shout | |
| tu | crierais | you would shout | |
| il / elle / on | crierait | he / she / it would shouton: we would shout / one would shout | |
| nous | crierions | we would shout | |
| vous | crieriez | you would shout | |
| ils / elles | crieraient | they would shout |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul crierait pour appeler son frère.
Paul would shout to call his brother.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crie | (that) I shout | |
| tu | cries | (that) you shout | |
| il / elle / on | crie | (that) he / she / it shoutson: (that) we shout / one shouts | |
| nous | criions | (that) we shout | |
| vous | criiez | (that) you shout | |
| ils / elles | crient | (that) they shout |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul crie pour appeler son frère.
It is possible that Paul shouts to call his brother.
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 cry out
- to shout
- to creak
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