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 have lunch.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déjeune | I have lunch | |
| tu | déjeunes | you have lunch | |
| il / elle / on | déjeune | he / she / it has lunchon: we have lunch / one has lunch | |
| nous | déjeunons | we have lunch | |
| vous | déjeunez | you have lunch | |
| ils / elles | déjeunent | they have lunch |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul déjeune avec ses collègues.
Paul has lunch with his colleagues.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai déjeuné | I had lunch | |
| tu | as déjeuné | you had lunch | |
| il / elle / on | a déjeuné | he / she / it had lunchon: we had lunch / one had lunch | |
| nous | avons déjeuné | we had lunch | |
| vous | avez déjeuné | you had lunch | |
| ils / elles | ont déjeuné | they had lunch |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a déjeuné avec ses collègues.
Yesterday, Paul had lunch with his colleagues.
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’ | déjeunais | I used to have lunch | |
| tu | déjeunais | you used to have lunch | |
| il / elle / on | déjeunait | he / she / it used to have lunchon: we used to have lunch / one used to have lunch | |
| nous | déjeunions | we used to have lunch | |
| vous | déjeuniez | you used to have lunch | |
| ils / elles | déjeunaient | they used to have lunch |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul déjeunait avec ses collègues.
Back then, Paul used to have lunch with his colleagues.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déjeunerai | I will have lunch | |
| tu | déjeuneras | you will have lunch | |
| il / elle / on | déjeunera | he / she / it will have lunchon: we will have lunch / one will have lunch | |
| nous | déjeunerons | we will have lunch | |
| vous | déjeunerez | you will have lunch | |
| ils / elles | déjeuneront | they will have lunch |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul déjeunera avec ses collègues.
Later, Paul will have lunch with his colleagues.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déjeunerais | I would have lunch | |
| tu | déjeunerais | you would have lunch | |
| il / elle / on | déjeunerait | he / she / it would have lunchon: we would have lunch / one would have lunch | |
| nous | déjeunerions | we would have lunch | |
| vous | déjeuneriez | you would have lunch | |
| ils / elles | déjeuneraient | they would have lunch |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul déjeunerait avec ses collègues.
Paul would have lunch with his colleagues.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | déjeune | (that) I have lunch | |
| tu | déjeunes | (that) you have lunch | |
| il / elle / on | déjeune | (that) he / she / it has lunchon: (that) we have lunch / one has lunch | |
| nous | déjeunions | (that) we have lunch | |
| vous | déjeuniez | (that) you have lunch | |
| ils / elles | déjeunent | (that) they have lunch |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul déjeune avec ses collègues.
It is possible that Paul has lunch with his colleagues.
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 lunch, to eat lunch, to have lunch
- to have breakfast
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