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 doubt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | doute | I doubt | |
| tu | doutes | you doubt | |
| il / elle / on | doute | he / she / it doubtson: we doubt / one doubts | |
| nous | doutons | we doubt | |
| vous | doutez | you doubt | |
| ils / elles | doutent | they doubt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul doute de la fiabilité de cette information.
Paul doubts the reliability of this information.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai douté | I doubted | |
| tu | as douté | you doubted | |
| il / elle / on | a douté | he / she / it doubtedon: we doubted / one doubted | |
| nous | avons douté | we doubted | |
| vous | avez douté | you doubted | |
| ils / elles | ont douté | they doubted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a douté de la fiabilité de cette information.
Yesterday, Paul doubted the reliability of this information.
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’ | doutais | I used to doubt | |
| tu | doutais | you used to doubt | |
| il / elle / on | doutait | he / she / it used to doubton: we used to doubt / one used to doubt | |
| nous | doutions | we used to doubt | |
| vous | doutiez | you used to doubt | |
| ils / elles | doutaient | they used to doubt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul doutait de la fiabilité de cette information.
Back then, Paul used to doubt the reliability of this information.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | douterai | I will doubt | |
| tu | douteras | you will doubt | |
| il / elle / on | doutera | he / she / it will doubton: we will doubt / one will doubt | |
| nous | douterons | we will doubt | |
| vous | douterez | you will doubt | |
| ils / elles | douteront | they will doubt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul doutera de la fiabilité de cette information.
Later, Paul will doubt the reliability of this information.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | douterais | I would doubt | |
| tu | douterais | you would doubt | |
| il / elle / on | douterait | he / she / it would doubton: we would doubt / one would doubt | |
| nous | douterions | we would doubt | |
| vous | douteriez | you would doubt | |
| ils / elles | douteraient | they would doubt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul douterait de la fiabilité de cette information.
Paul would doubt the reliability of this information.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | doute | (that) I doubt | |
| tu | doutes | (that) you doubt | |
| il / elle / on | doute | (that) he / she / it doubtson: (that) we doubt / one doubts | |
| nous | doutions | (that) we doubt | |
| vous | doutiez | (that) you doubt | |
| ils / elles | doutent | (that) they doubt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul doute de la fiabilité de cette information.
It is possible that Paul doubts the reliability of this information.
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 doubt
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