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 depend.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dépends | I depend | |
| tu | dépends | you depend | |
| il / elle / on | dépend | he / she / it dependson: we depend / one depends | |
| nous | dépendons | we depend | |
| vous | dépendez | you depend | |
| ils / elles | dépendent | they depend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le résultat dépend de la météo.
The result depends on the weather.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai dépendu | I depended | |
| tu | as dépendu | you depended | |
| il / elle / on | a dépendu | he / she / it dependedon: we depended / one depended | |
| nous | avons dépendu | we depended | |
| vous | avez dépendu | you depended | |
| ils / elles | ont dépendu | they depended |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le résultat a dépendu de la météo.
Yesterday, the result depended on the weather.
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’ | dépendais | I used to depend | |
| tu | dépendais | you used to depend | |
| il / elle / on | dépendait | he / she / it used to dependon: we used to depend / one used to depend | |
| nous | dépendions | we used to depend | |
| vous | dépendiez | you used to depend | |
| ils / elles | dépendaient | they used to depend |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le résultat dépendait de la météo.
Back then, the result used to depend on the weather.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dépendrai | I will depend | |
| tu | dépendras | you will depend | |
| il / elle / on | dépendra | he / she / it will dependon: we will depend / one will depend | |
| nous | dépendrons | we will depend | |
| vous | dépendrez | you will depend | |
| ils / elles | dépendront | they will depend |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le résultat dépendra de la météo.
Later, the result will depend on the weather.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dépendrais | I would depend | |
| tu | dépendrais | you would depend | |
| il / elle / on | dépendrait | he / she / it would dependon: we would depend / one would depend | |
| nous | dépendrions | we would depend | |
| vous | dépendriez | you would depend | |
| ils / elles | dépendraient | they would depend |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le résultat dépendrait de la météo.
The result would depend on the weather.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dépende | (that) I depend | |
| tu | dépendes | (that) you depend | |
| il / elle / on | dépende | (that) he / she / it dependson: (that) we depend / one depends | |
| nous | dépendions | (that) we depend | |
| vous | dépendiez | (that) you depend | |
| ils / elles | dépendent | (that) they depend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le résultat dépende de la météo.
It is possible that the result depends on the weather.
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 depend (to be uncertain or contingent)
- to depend (to be contingent)
- to depend, to rely (for support)
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