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 maintain.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entretiens | I maintain | |
| tu | entretiens | you maintain | |
| il / elle / on | entretient | he / she / it maintainson: we maintain / one maintains | |
| nous | entretenons | we maintain | |
| vous | entretenez | you maintain | |
| ils / elles | entretiennent | they maintain |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le mécanicien entretient le moteur du bateau.
The mechanic maintains the boat's engine.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai entretenu | I maintained | |
| tu | as entretenu | you maintained | |
| il / elle / on | a entretenu | he / she / it maintainedon: we maintained / one maintained | |
| nous | avons entretenu | we maintained | |
| vous | avez entretenu | you maintained | |
| ils / elles | ont entretenu | they maintained |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le mécanicien a entretenu le moteur du bateau.
Yesterday, the mechanic maintained the boat's engine.
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’ | entretenais | I used to maintain | |
| tu | entretenais | you used to maintain | |
| il / elle / on | entretenait | he / she / it used to maintainon: we used to maintain / one used to maintain | |
| nous | entretenions | we used to maintain | |
| vous | entreteniez | you used to maintain | |
| ils / elles | entretenaient | they used to maintain |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le mécanicien entretenait le moteur du bateau.
Back then, the mechanic used to maintain the boat's engine.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entretiendrai | I will maintain | |
| tu | entretiendras | you will maintain | |
| il / elle / on | entretiendra | he / she / it will maintainon: we will maintain / one will maintain | |
| nous | entretiendrons | we will maintain | |
| vous | entretiendrez | you will maintain | |
| ils / elles | entretiendront | they will maintain |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le mécanicien entretiendra le moteur du bateau.
Later, the mechanic will maintain the boat's engine.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entretiendrais | I would maintain | |
| tu | entretiendrais | you would maintain | |
| il / elle / on | entretiendrait | he / she / it would maintainon: we would maintain / one would maintain | |
| nous | entretiendrions | we would maintain | |
| vous | entretiendriez | you would maintain | |
| ils / elles | entretiendraient | they would maintain |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le mécanicien entretiendrait le moteur du bateau.
The mechanic would maintain the boat's engine.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | entretienne | (that) I maintain | |
| tu | entretiennes | (that) you maintain | |
| il / elle / on | entretienne | (that) he / she / it maintainson: (that) we maintain / one maintains | |
| nous | entretenions | (that) we maintain | |
| vous | entreteniez | (that) you maintain | |
| ils / elles | entretiennent | (that) they maintain |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le mécanicien entretienne le moteur du bateau.
It is possible that the mechanic maintains the boat's engine.
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 maintain, to look after
- to support (e.g. a family)
- to fuel, to keep something going
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