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 believe.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | crois | I believe | |
| tu | crois | you believe | |
| il / elle / on | croit | he / she / it believeson: we believe / one believes | |
| nous | croyons | we believe | |
| vous | croyez | you believe | |
| ils / elles | croient | they believe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul croit son frère.
Paul believes his brother.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai cru | I believed | |
| tu | as cru | you believed | |
| il / elle / on | a cru | he / she / it believedon: we believed / one believed | |
| nous | avons cru | we believed | |
| vous | avez cru | you believed | |
| ils / elles | ont cru | they believed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a cru son frère.
Yesterday, Paul believed 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’ | croyais | I believed | |
| tu | croyais | you believed | |
| il / elle / on | croyait | he / she / it believedon: we believed / one believed | |
| nous | croyions | we believed | |
| vous | croyiez | you believed | |
| ils / elles | croyaient | they believed |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul croyait son frère.
Back then, Paul believed his brother.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croirai | I will believe | |
| tu | croiras | you will believe | |
| il / elle / on | croira | he / she / it will believeon: we will believe / one will believe | |
| nous | croirons | we will believe | |
| vous | croirez | you will believe | |
| ils / elles | croiront | they will believe |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul croira son frère.
Later, Paul will believe his brother.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croirais | I would believe | |
| tu | croirais | you would believe | |
| il / elle / on | croirait | he / she / it would believeon: we would believe / one would believe | |
| nous | croirions | we would believe | |
| vous | croiriez | you would believe | |
| ils / elles | croiraient | they would believe |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul croirait son frère.
Paul would believe his brother.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | croie | (that) I believe | |
| tu | croies | (that) you believe | |
| il / elle / on | croie | (that) he / she / it believeson: (that) we believe / one believes | |
| nous | croyions | (that) we believe | |
| vous | croyiez | (that) you believe | |
| ils / elles | croient | (that) they believe |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul croie son frère.
It is possible that Paul believes 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 believe (someone)
- to believe, to accept as true
- to believe, to have faith
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