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 sleep.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dors | I sleep | |
| tu | dors | you sleep | |
| il / elle / on | dort | he / she / it sleepson: we sleep / one sleeps | |
| nous | dormons | we sleep | |
| vous | dormez | you sleep | |
| ils / elles | dorment | they sleep |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul dort dans la chambre du fond.
Paul sleeps in the room at the back.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai dormi | I slept | |
| tu | as dormi | you slept | |
| il / elle / on | a dormi | he / she / it slepton: we slept / one slept | |
| nous | avons dormi | we slept | |
| vous | avez dormi | you slept | |
| ils / elles | ont dormi | they slept |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a dormi dans la chambre du fond.
Yesterday, Paul slept in the room at the back.
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’ | dormais | I used to sleep | |
| tu | dormais | you used to sleep | |
| il / elle / on | dormait | he / she / it used to sleepon: we used to sleep / one used to sleep | |
| nous | dormions | we used to sleep | |
| vous | dormiez | you used to sleep | |
| ils / elles | dormaient | they used to sleep |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul dormait dans la chambre du fond.
Back then, Paul used to sleep in the room at the back.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dormirai | I will sleep | |
| tu | dormiras | you will sleep | |
| il / elle / on | dormira | he / she / it will sleepon: we will sleep / one will sleep | |
| nous | dormirons | we will sleep | |
| vous | dormirez | you will sleep | |
| ils / elles | dormiront | they will sleep |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul dormira dans la chambre du fond.
Later, Paul will sleep in the room at the back.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dormirais | I would sleep | |
| tu | dormirais | you would sleep | |
| il / elle / on | dormirait | he / she / it would sleepon: we would sleep / one would sleep | |
| nous | dormirions | we would sleep | |
| vous | dormiriez | you would sleep | |
| ils / elles | dormiraient | they would sleep |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul dormirait dans la chambre du fond.
Paul would sleep in the room at the back.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | dorme | (that) I sleep | |
| tu | dormes | (that) you sleep | |
| il / elle / on | dorme | (that) he / she / it sleepson: (that) we sleep / one sleeps | |
| nous | dormions | (that) we sleep | |
| vous | dormiez | (that) you sleep | |
| ils / elles | dorment | (that) they sleep |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul dorme dans la chambre du fond.
It is possible that Paul sleeps in the room at the back.
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 sleep
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