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 express.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exprime | I express | |
| tu | exprimes | you express | |
| il / elle / on | exprime | he / she / it expresseson: we express / one expresses | |
| nous | exprimons | we express | |
| vous | exprimez | you express | |
| ils / elles | expriment | they express |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul exprime son opinion avec calme.
Paul expresses his opinion calmly.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai exprimé | I expressed | |
| tu | as exprimé | you expressed | |
| il / elle / on | a exprimé | he / she / it expressedon: we expressed / one expressed | |
| nous | avons exprimé | we expressed | |
| vous | avez exprimé | you expressed | |
| ils / elles | ont exprimé | they expressed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a exprimé son opinion avec calme.
Yesterday, Paul expressed his opinion calmly.
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’ | exprimais | I used to express | |
| tu | exprimais | you used to express | |
| il / elle / on | exprimait | he / she / it used to expresson: we used to express / one used to express | |
| nous | exprimions | we used to express | |
| vous | exprimiez | you used to express | |
| ils / elles | exprimaient | they used to express |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul exprimait son opinion avec calme.
Back then, Paul used to express his opinion calmly.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exprimerai | I will express | |
| tu | exprimeras | you will express | |
| il / elle / on | exprimera | he / she / it will expresson: we will express / one will express | |
| nous | exprimerons | we will express | |
| vous | exprimerez | you will express | |
| ils / elles | exprimeront | they will express |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul exprimera son opinion avec calme.
Later, Paul will express his opinion calmly.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exprimerais | I would express | |
| tu | exprimerais | you would express | |
| il / elle / on | exprimerait | he / she / it would expresson: we would express / one would express | |
| nous | exprimerions | we would express | |
| vous | exprimeriez | you would express | |
| ils / elles | exprimeraient | they would express |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul exprimerait son opinion avec calme.
Paul would express his opinion calmly.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | exprime | (that) I express | |
| tu | exprimes | (that) you express | |
| il / elle / on | exprime | (that) he / she / it expresseson: (that) we express / one expresses | |
| nous | exprimions | (that) we express | |
| vous | exprimiez | (that) you express | |
| ils / elles | expriment | (that) they express |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul exprime son opinion avec calme.
It is possible that Paul expresses his opinion calmly.
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 express
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