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 exchange.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échange | I exchange | |
| tu | échanges | you exchange | |
| il / elle / on | échange | he / she / it exchangeson: we exchange / one exchanges | |
| nous | échangeons | we exchange | |
| vous | échangez | you exchange | |
| ils / elles | échangent | they exchange |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul échange des livres avec ses amis.
Paul exchanges books with his friends.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai échangé | I exchanged | |
| tu | as échangé | you exchanged | |
| il / elle / on | a échangé | he / she / it exchangedon: we exchanged / one exchanged | |
| nous | avons échangé | we exchanged | |
| vous | avez échangé | you exchanged | |
| ils / elles | ont échangé | they exchanged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a échangé des livres avec ses amis.
Yesterday, Paul exchanged books with his friends.
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’ | échangeais | I used to exchange | |
| tu | échangeais | you used to exchange | |
| il / elle / on | échangeait | he / she / it used to exchangeon: we used to exchange / one used to exchange | |
| nous | échangions | we used to exchange | |
| vous | échangiez | you used to exchange | |
| ils / elles | échangeaient | they used to exchange |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul échangeait des livres avec ses amis.
Back then, Paul used to exchange books with his friends.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échangerai | I will exchange | |
| tu | échangeras | you will exchange | |
| il / elle / on | échangera | he / she / it will exchangeon: we will exchange / one will exchange | |
| nous | échangerons | we will exchange | |
| vous | échangerez | you will exchange | |
| ils / elles | échangeront | they will exchange |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul échangera des livres avec ses amis.
Later, Paul will exchange books with his friends.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échangerais | I would exchange | |
| tu | échangerais | you would exchange | |
| il / elle / on | échangerait | he / she / it would exchangeon: we would exchange / one would exchange | |
| nous | échangerions | we would exchange | |
| vous | échangeriez | you would exchange | |
| ils / elles | échangeraient | they would exchange |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul échangerait des livres avec ses amis.
Paul would exchange books with his friends.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | échange | (that) I exchange | |
| tu | échanges | (that) you exchange | |
| il / elle / on | échange | (that) he / she / it exchangeson: (that) we exchange / one exchanges | |
| nous | échangions | (that) we exchange | |
| vous | échangiez | (that) you exchange | |
| ils / elles | échangent | (that) they exchange |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul échange des livres avec ses amis.
It is possible that Paul exchanges books with his friends.
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 exchange, to swap
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