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 hear.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entends | I hear | |
| tu | entends | you hear | |
| il / elle / on | entend | he / she / it hearson: we hear / one hears | |
| nous | entendons | we hear | |
| vous | entendez | you hear | |
| ils / elles | entendent | they hear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul entend la musique depuis sa chambre.
Paul hears the music from his room.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai entendu | I heard | |
| tu | as entendu | you heard | |
| il / elle / on | a entendu | he / she / it heardon: we heard / one heard | |
| nous | avons entendu | we heard | |
| vous | avez entendu | you heard | |
| ils / elles | ont entendu | they heard |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a entendu la musique depuis sa chambre.
Yesterday, Paul heard the music from his room.
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’ | entendais | I used to hear | |
| tu | entendais | you used to hear | |
| il / elle / on | entendait | he / she / it used to hearon: we used to hear / one used to hear | |
| nous | entendions | we used to hear | |
| vous | entendiez | you used to hear | |
| ils / elles | entendaient | they used to hear |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul entendait la musique depuis sa chambre.
Back then, Paul used to hear the music from his room.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entendrai | I will hear | |
| tu | entendras | you will hear | |
| il / elle / on | entendra | he / she / it will hearon: we will hear / one will hear | |
| nous | entendrons | we will hear | |
| vous | entendrez | you will hear | |
| ils / elles | entendront | they will hear |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul entendra la musique depuis sa chambre.
Later, Paul will hear the music from his room.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entendrais | I would hear | |
| tu | entendrais | you would hear | |
| il / elle / on | entendrait | he / she / it would hearon: we would hear / one would hear | |
| nous | entendrions | we would hear | |
| vous | entendriez | you would hear | |
| ils / elles | entendraient | they would hear |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul entendrait la musique depuis sa chambre.
Paul would hear the music from his room.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entende | (that) I hear | |
| tu | entendes | (that) you hear | |
| il / elle / on | entende | (that) he / she / it hearson: (that) we hear / one hears | |
| nous | entendions | (that) we hear | |
| vous | entendiez | (that) you hear | |
| ils / elles | entendent | (that) they hear |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul entende la musique depuis sa chambre.
It is possible that Paul hears the music from his room.
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 hear
- to be able to hear
- to mean
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