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 dance.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | danse | I dance | |
| tu | danses | you dance | |
| il / elle / on | danse | he / she / it danceson: we dance / one dances | |
| nous | dansons | we dance | |
| vous | dansez | you dance | |
| ils / elles | dansent | they dance |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul danse avec ses amis.
Paul dances with his friends.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai dansé | I danced | |
| tu | as dansé | you danced | |
| il / elle / on | a dansé | he / she / it dancedon: we danced / one danced | |
| nous | avons dansé | we danced | |
| vous | avez dansé | you danced | |
| ils / elles | ont dansé | they danced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a dansé avec ses amis.
Yesterday, Paul danced with his friends.
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’ | dansais | I used to dance | |
| tu | dansais | you used to dance | |
| il / elle / on | dansait | he / she / it used to danceon: we used to dance / one used to dance | |
| nous | dansions | we used to dance | |
| vous | dansiez | you used to dance | |
| ils / elles | dansaient | they used to dance |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul dansait avec ses amis.
Back then, Paul used to dance with his friends.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | danserai | I will dance | |
| tu | danseras | you will dance | |
| il / elle / on | dansera | he / she / it will danceon: we will dance / one will dance | |
| nous | danserons | we will dance | |
| vous | danserez | you will dance | |
| ils / elles | danseront | they will dance |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul dansera avec ses amis.
Later, Paul will dance with his friends.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | danserais | I would dance | |
| tu | danserais | you would dance | |
| il / elle / on | danserait | he / she / it would danceon: we would dance / one would dance | |
| nous | danserions | we would dance | |
| vous | danseriez | you would dance | |
| ils / elles | danseraient | they would dance |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul danserait avec ses amis.
Paul would dance with his friends.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | danse | (that) I dance | |
| tu | danses | (that) you dance | |
| il / elle / on | danse | (that) he / she / it danceson: (that) we dance / one dances | |
| nous | dansions | (that) we dance | |
| vous | dansiez | (that) you dance | |
| ils / elles | dansent | (that) they dance |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul danse avec ses amis.
It is possible that Paul dances with his friends.
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 dance
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