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 taste.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déguste | I taste | |
| tu | dégustes | you taste | |
| il / elle / on | déguste | he / she / it tasteson: we taste / one tastes | |
| nous | dégustons | we taste | |
| vous | dégustez | you taste | |
| ils / elles | dégustent | they taste |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul déguste un fromage local.
Paul tastes a local cheese.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai dégusté | I tasted | |
| tu | as dégusté | you tasted | |
| il / elle / on | a dégusté | he / she / it tastedon: we tasted / one tasted | |
| nous | avons dégusté | we tasted | |
| vous | avez dégusté | you tasted | |
| ils / elles | ont dégusté | they tasted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a dégusté un fromage local.
Yesterday, Paul tasted a local cheese.
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’ | dégustais | I used to taste | |
| tu | dégustais | you used to taste | |
| il / elle / on | dégustait | he / she / it used to tasteon: we used to taste / one used to taste | |
| nous | dégustions | we used to taste | |
| vous | dégustiez | you used to taste | |
| ils / elles | dégustaient | they used to taste |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul dégustait un fromage local.
Back then, Paul used to taste a local cheese.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dégusterai | I will taste | |
| tu | dégusteras | you will taste | |
| il / elle / on | dégustera | he / she / it will tasteon: we will taste / one will taste | |
| nous | dégusterons | we will taste | |
| vous | dégusterez | you will taste | |
| ils / elles | dégusteront | they will taste |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul dégustera un fromage local.
Later, Paul will taste a local cheese.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dégusterais | I would taste | |
| tu | dégusterais | you would taste | |
| il / elle / on | dégusterait | he / she / it would tasteon: we would taste / one would taste | |
| nous | dégusterions | we would taste | |
| vous | dégusteriez | you would taste | |
| ils / elles | dégusteraient | they would taste |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul dégusterait un fromage local.
Paul would taste a local cheese.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déguste | (that) I taste | |
| tu | dégustes | (that) you taste | |
| il / elle / on | déguste | (that) he / she / it tasteson: (that) we taste / one tastes | |
| nous | dégustions | (that) we taste | |
| vous | dégustiez | (that) you taste | |
| ils / elles | dégustent | (that) they taste |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul déguste un fromage local.
It is possible that Paul tastes a local cheese.
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 try, to taste (food or drink)
- to savor, to relish something
- to withstand
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