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 give.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | donne | I give | |
| tu | donnes | you give | |
| il / elle / on | donne | he / she / it giveson: we give / one gives | |
| nous | donnons | we give | |
| vous | donnez | you give | |
| ils / elles | donnent | they give |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul donne un livre à son frère.
Paul gives a book to his brother.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai donné | I gave | |
| tu | as donné | you gave | |
| il / elle / on | a donné | he / she / it gaveon: we gave / one gave | |
| nous | avons donné | we gave | |
| vous | avez donné | you gave | |
| ils / elles | ont donné | they gave |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a donné un livre à son frère.
Yesterday, Paul gave a book to his brother.
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’ | donnais | I used to give | |
| tu | donnais | you used to give | |
| il / elle / on | donnait | he / she / it used to giveon: we used to give / one used to give | |
| nous | donnions | we used to give | |
| vous | donniez | you used to give | |
| ils / elles | donnaient | they used to give |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul donnait un livre à son frère.
Back then, Paul used to give a book to his brother.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | donnerai | I will give | |
| tu | donneras | you will give | |
| il / elle / on | donnera | he / she / it will giveon: we will give / one will give | |
| nous | donnerons | we will give | |
| vous | donnerez | you will give | |
| ils / elles | donneront | they will give |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul donnera un livre à son frère.
Later, Paul will give a book to his brother.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | donnerais | I would give | |
| tu | donnerais | you would give | |
| il / elle / on | donnerait | he / she / it would giveon: we would give / one would give | |
| nous | donnerions | we would give | |
| vous | donneriez | you would give | |
| ils / elles | donneraient | they would give |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul donnerait un livre à son frère.
Paul would give a book to his brother.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | donne | (that) I give | |
| tu | donnes | (that) you give | |
| il / elle / on | donne | (that) he / she / it giveson: (that) we give / one gives | |
| nous | donnions | (that) we give | |
| vous | donniez | (that) you give | |
| ils / elles | donnent | (that) they give |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul donne un livre à son frère.
It is possible that Paul gives a book to his brother.
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 give, to transfer the possession/holding of something to someone else
- to donate
- to come across
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