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 hope.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | espère | I hope | |
| tu | espères | you hope | |
| il / elle / on | espère | he / she / it hopeson: we hope / one hopes | |
| nous | espérons | we hope | |
| vous | espérez | you hope | |
| ils / elles | espèrent | they hope |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul espère recevoir une réponse.
Paul hopes to receive an answer.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai espéré | I hoped | |
| tu | as espéré | you hoped | |
| il / elle / on | a espéré | he / she / it hopedon: we hoped / one hoped | |
| nous | avons espéré | we hoped | |
| vous | avez espéré | you hoped | |
| ils / elles | ont espéré | they hoped |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a espéré recevoir une réponse.
Yesterday, Paul hoped to receive an answer.
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’ | espérais | I used to hope | |
| tu | espérais | you used to hope | |
| il / elle / on | espérait | he / she / it used to hopeon: we used to hope / one used to hope | |
| nous | espérions | we used to hope | |
| vous | espériez | you used to hope | |
| ils / elles | espéraient | they used to hope |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul espérait recevoir une réponse.
Back then, Paul used to hope to receive an answer.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | espèrerai / espérerai | I will hope | |
| tu | espèreras / espéreras | you will hope | |
| il / elle / on | espèrera / espérera | he / she / it will hopeon: we will hope / one will hope | |
| nous | espèrerons / espérerons | we will hope | |
| vous | espèrerez / espérerez | you will hope | |
| ils / elles | espèreront / espéreront | they will hope |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul espèrera recevoir une réponse.
Later, Paul will hope to receive an answer.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | espèrerais / espérerais | I would hope | |
| tu | espèrerais / espérerais | you would hope | |
| il / elle / on | espèrerait / espérerait | he / she / it would hopeon: we would hope / one would hope | |
| nous | espèrerions / espérerions | we would hope | |
| vous | espèreriez / espéreriez | you would hope | |
| ils / elles | espèreraient / espéreraient | they would hope |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul espèrerait recevoir une réponse.
Paul would hope to receive an answer.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | espère | (that) I hope | |
| tu | espères | (that) you hope | |
| il / elle / on | espère | (that) he / she / it hopeson: (that) we hope / one hopes | |
| nous | espérions | (that) we hope | |
| vous | espériez | (that) you hope | |
| ils / elles | espèrent | (that) they hope |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul espère recevoir une réponse.
It is possible that Paul hopes to receive an answer.
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 hope
- to hope for
- to have faith, to trust (with en (“in”))
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