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 stretch out.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étends | I stretch out | |
| tu | étends | you stretch out | |
| il / elle / on | étend | he / she / it stretches outon: we stretch out / one stretches out | |
| nous | étendons | we stretch out | |
| vous | étendez | you stretch out | |
| ils / elles | étendent | they stretch out |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul étend les bras devant lui.
Paul stretches out his arms in front of him.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai étendu | I stretched out | |
| tu | as étendu | you stretched out | |
| il / elle / on | a étendu | he / she / it stretched outon: we stretched out / one stretched out | |
| nous | avons étendu | we stretched out | |
| vous | avez étendu | you stretched out | |
| ils / elles | ont étendu | they stretched out |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a étendu les bras devant lui.
Yesterday, Paul stretched out his arms in front of him.
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’ | étendais | I used to stretch out | |
| tu | étendais | you used to stretch out | |
| il / elle / on | étendait | he / she / it used to stretch outon: we used to stretch out / one used to stretch out | |
| nous | étendions | we used to stretch out | |
| vous | étendiez | you used to stretch out | |
| ils / elles | étendaient | they used to stretch out |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul étendait les bras devant lui.
Back then, Paul used to stretch out his arms in front of him.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étendrai | I will stretch out | |
| tu | étendras | you will stretch out | |
| il / elle / on | étendra | he / she / it will stretch outon: we will stretch out / one will stretch out | |
| nous | étendrons | we will stretch out | |
| vous | étendrez | you will stretch out | |
| ils / elles | étendront | they will stretch out |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul étendra les bras devant lui.
Later, Paul will stretch out his arms in front of him.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étendrais | I would stretch out | |
| tu | étendrais | you would stretch out | |
| il / elle / on | étendrait | he / she / it would stretch outon: we would stretch out / one would stretch out | |
| nous | étendrions | we would stretch out | |
| vous | étendriez | you would stretch out | |
| ils / elles | étendraient | they would stretch out |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul étendrait les bras devant lui.
Paul would stretch out his arms in front of him.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | étende | (that) I stretch out | |
| tu | étendes | (that) you stretch out | |
| il / elle / on | étende | (that) he / she / it stretches outon: (that) we stretch out / one stretches out | |
| nous | étendions | (that) we stretch out | |
| vous | étendiez | (that) you stretch out | |
| ils / elles | étendent | (that) they stretch out |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul étende les bras devant lui.
It is possible that Paul stretches out his arms in front of him.
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 stretch (the limbs)
- to hang out (washing)
- to dilute; to water down
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