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 become.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | deviens | I become | |
| tu | deviens | you become | |
| il / elle / on | devient | he / she / it becomeson: we become / one becomes | |
| nous | devenons | we become | |
| vous | devenez | you become | |
| ils / elles | deviennent | they become |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul devient responsable de l'équipe.
Paul becomes the person in charge of the team.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis devenu / suis devenue | I became | |
| tu | es devenu / es devenue | you became | |
| il / elle / on | est devenu / est devenue | he / she / it becameon: we became / one became | |
| nous | sommes devenus / sommes devenues | we became | |
| vous | êtes devenu / êtes devenue / êtes devenus / êtes devenues | you became | |
| ils / elles | sont devenus / sont devenues | they became |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est devenu responsable de l'équipe.
Yesterday, Paul became the person in charge of the team.
With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | devenais | I used to become | |
| tu | devenais | you used to become | |
| il / elle / on | devenait | he / she / it used to becomeon: we used to become / one used to become | |
| nous | devenions | we used to become | |
| vous | deveniez | you used to become | |
| ils / elles | devenaient | they used to become |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul devenait responsable de l'équipe.
Back then, Paul used to become the person in charge of the team.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | deviendrai | I will become | |
| tu | deviendras | you will become | |
| il / elle / on | deviendra | he / she / it will becomeon: we will become / one will become | |
| nous | deviendrons | we will become | |
| vous | deviendrez | you will become | |
| ils / elles | deviendront | they will become |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul deviendra responsable de l'équipe.
Later, Paul will become the person in charge of the team.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | deviendrais | I would become | |
| tu | deviendrais | you would become | |
| il / elle / on | deviendrait | he / she / it would becomeon: we would become / one would become | |
| nous | deviendrions | we would become | |
| vous | deviendriez | you would become | |
| ils / elles | deviendraient | they would become |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul deviendrait responsable de l'équipe.
Paul would become the person in charge of the team.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | devienne | (that) I become | |
| tu | deviennes | (that) you become | |
| il / elle / on | devienne | (that) he / she / it becomeson: (that) we become / one becomes | |
| nous | devenions | (that) we become | |
| vous | deveniez | (that) you become | |
| ils / elles | deviennent | (that) they become |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul devienne responsable de l'équipe.
It is possible that Paul becomes the person in charge of the team.
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 become
- to come from
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