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 cook.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cuis | I cook | |
| tu | cuis | you cook | |
| il / elle / on | cuit | he / she / it cookson: we cook / one cooks | |
| nous | cuisons | we cook | |
| vous | cuisez | you cook | |
| ils / elles | cuisent | they cook |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul cuit les légumes à la vapeur.
Paul cooks the vegetables using steam.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai cuit | I cooked | |
| tu | as cuit | you cooked | |
| il / elle / on | a cuit | he / she / it cookedon: we cooked / one cooked | |
| nous | avons cuit | we cooked | |
| vous | avez cuit | you cooked | |
| ils / elles | ont cuit | they cooked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a cuit les légumes à la vapeur.
Yesterday, Paul cooked the vegetables using steam.
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’ | cuisais | I used to cook | |
| tu | cuisais | you used to cook | |
| il / elle / on | cuisait | he / she / it used to cookon: we used to cook / one used to cook | |
| nous | cuisions | we used to cook | |
| vous | cuisiez | you used to cook | |
| ils / elles | cuisaient | they used to cook |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul cuisait les légumes à la vapeur.
Back then, Paul used to cook the vegetables using steam.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cuirai | I will cook | |
| tu | cuiras | you will cook | |
| il / elle / on | cuira | he / she / it will cookon: we will cook / one will cook | |
| nous | cuirons | we will cook | |
| vous | cuirez | you will cook | |
| ils / elles | cuiront | they will cook |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul cuira les légumes à la vapeur.
Later, Paul will cook the vegetables using steam.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cuirais | I would cook | |
| tu | cuirais | you would cook | |
| il / elle / on | cuirait | he / she / it would cookon: we would cook / one would cook | |
| nous | cuirions | we would cook | |
| vous | cuiriez | you would cook | |
| ils / elles | cuiraient | they would cook |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul cuirait les légumes à la vapeur.
Paul would cook the vegetables using steam.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | cuise | (that) I cook | |
| tu | cuises | (that) you cook | |
| il / elle / on | cuise | (that) he / she / it cookson: (that) we cook / one cooks | |
| nous | cuisions | (that) we cook | |
| vous | cuisiez | (that) you cook | |
| ils / elles | cuisent | (that) they cook |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul cuise les légumes à la vapeur.
It is possible that Paul cooks the vegetables using steam.
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 cook
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