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 try on.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | essaye / essaie | I try on | |
| tu | essayes / essaies | you try on | |
| il / elle / on | essaye / essaie | he / she / it tries onon: we try on / one tries on | |
| nous | essayons | we try on | |
| vous | essayez | you try on | |
| ils / elles | essayent / essaient | they try on |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul essaye une veste bleue.
Paul tries on a blue jacket.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai essayé | I tried on | |
| tu | as essayé | you tried on | |
| il / elle / on | a essayé | he / she / it tried onon: we tried on / one tried on | |
| nous | avons essayé | we tried on | |
| vous | avez essayé | you tried on | |
| ils / elles | ont essayé | they tried on |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a essayé une veste bleue.
Yesterday, Paul tried on a blue jacket.
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’ | essayais | I used to try on | |
| tu | essayais | you used to try on | |
| il / elle / on | essayait | he / she / it used to try onon: we used to try on / one used to try on | |
| nous | essayions | we used to try on | |
| vous | essayiez | you used to try on | |
| ils / elles | essayaient | they used to try on |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul essayait une veste bleue.
Back then, Paul used to try on a blue jacket.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | essayerai / essaierai | I will try on | |
| tu | essayeras / essaieras | you will try on | |
| il / elle / on | essayera / essaiera | he / she / it will try onon: we will try on / one will try on | |
| nous | essayerons / essaierons | we will try on | |
| vous | essayerez / essaierez | you will try on | |
| ils / elles | essayeront / essaieront | they will try on |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul essayera une veste bleue.
Later, Paul will try on a blue jacket.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | essayerais / essaierais | I would try on | |
| tu | essayerais / essaierais | you would try on | |
| il / elle / on | essayerait / essaierait | he / she / it would try onon: we would try on / one would try on | |
| nous | essayerions / essaierions | we would try on | |
| vous | essayeriez / essaieriez | you would try on | |
| ils / elles | essayeraient / essaieraient | they would try on |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul essayerait une veste bleue.
Paul would try on a blue jacket.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | essaye / essaie | (that) I try on | |
| tu | essayes / essaies | (that) you try on | |
| il / elle / on | essaye / essaie | (that) he / she / it tries onon: (that) we try on / one tries on | |
| nous | essayions | (that) we try on | |
| vous | essayiez | (that) you try on | |
| ils / elles | essayent / essaient | (that) they try on |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul essaye une veste bleue.
It is possible that Paul tries on a blue jacket.
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 try; to try on
- to test, to try on
- to try, to attempt
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