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 borrow.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emprunte | I borrow | |
| tu | empruntes | you borrow | |
| il / elle / on | emprunte | he / she / it borrowson: we borrow / one borrows | |
| nous | empruntons | we borrow | |
| vous | empruntez | you borrow | |
| ils / elles | empruntent | they borrow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul emprunte un livre à la bibliothèque.
Paul borrows a book from the library.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai emprunté | I borrowed | |
| tu | as emprunté | you borrowed | |
| il / elle / on | a emprunté | he / she / it borrowedon: we borrowed / one borrowed | |
| nous | avons emprunté | we borrowed | |
| vous | avez emprunté | you borrowed | |
| ils / elles | ont emprunté | they borrowed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a emprunté un livre à la bibliothèque.
Yesterday, Paul borrowed a book from the library.
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’ | empruntais | I used to borrow | |
| tu | empruntais | you used to borrow | |
| il / elle / on | empruntait | he / she / it used to borrowon: we used to borrow / one used to borrow | |
| nous | empruntions | we used to borrow | |
| vous | empruntiez | you used to borrow | |
| ils / elles | empruntaient | they used to borrow |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul empruntait un livre à la bibliothèque.
Back then, Paul used to borrow a book from the library.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emprunterai | I will borrow | |
| tu | emprunteras | you will borrow | |
| il / elle / on | empruntera | he / she / it will borrowon: we will borrow / one will borrow | |
| nous | emprunterons | we will borrow | |
| vous | emprunterez | you will borrow | |
| ils / elles | emprunteront | they will borrow |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul empruntera un livre à la bibliothèque.
Later, Paul will borrow a book from the library.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emprunterais | I would borrow | |
| tu | emprunterais | you would borrow | |
| il / elle / on | emprunterait | he / she / it would borrowon: we would borrow / one would borrow | |
| nous | emprunterions | we would borrow | |
| vous | emprunteriez | you would borrow | |
| ils / elles | emprunteraient | they would borrow |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul emprunterait un livre à la bibliothèque.
Paul would borrow a book from the library.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | emprunte | (that) I borrow | |
| tu | empruntes | (that) you borrow | |
| il / elle / on | emprunte | (that) he / she / it borrowson: (that) we borrow / one borrows | |
| nous | empruntions | (that) we borrow | |
| vous | empruntiez | (that) you borrow | |
| ils / elles | empruntent | (that) they borrow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul emprunte un livre à la bibliothèque.
It is possible that Paul borrows a book from the library.
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 borrow (~ à (“from”))
- to take, to follow
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