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 congratulate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | félicite | I congratulate | |
| tu | félicites | you congratulate | |
| il / elle / on | félicite | he / she / it congratulateson: we congratulate / one congratulates | |
| nous | félicitons | we congratulate | |
| vous | félicitez | you congratulate | |
| ils / elles | félicitent | they congratulate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul félicite son ami pour sa réussite.
Paul congratulates his friend on his success.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai félicité | I congratulated | |
| tu | as félicité | you congratulated | |
| il / elle / on | a félicité | he / she / it congratulatedon: we congratulated / one congratulated | |
| nous | avons félicité | we congratulated | |
| vous | avez félicité | you congratulated | |
| ils / elles | ont félicité | they congratulated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a félicité son ami pour sa réussite.
Yesterday, Paul congratulated his friend on his success.
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’ | félicitais | I used to congratulate | |
| tu | félicitais | you used to congratulate | |
| il / elle / on | félicitait | he / she / it used to congratulateon: we used to congratulate / one used to congratulate | |
| nous | félicitions | we used to congratulate | |
| vous | félicitiez | you used to congratulate | |
| ils / elles | félicitaient | they used to congratulate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul félicitait son ami pour sa réussite.
Back then, Paul used to congratulate his friend on his success.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | féliciterai | I will congratulate | |
| tu | féliciteras | you will congratulate | |
| il / elle / on | félicitera | he / she / it will congratulateon: we will congratulate / one will congratulate | |
| nous | féliciterons | we will congratulate | |
| vous | féliciterez | you will congratulate | |
| ils / elles | féliciteront | they will congratulate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul félicitera son ami pour sa réussite.
Later, Paul will congratulate his friend on his success.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | féliciterais | I would congratulate | |
| tu | féliciterais | you would congratulate | |
| il / elle / on | féliciterait | he / she / it would congratulateon: we would congratulate / one would congratulate | |
| nous | féliciterions | we would congratulate | |
| vous | féliciteriez | you would congratulate | |
| ils / elles | féliciteraient | they would congratulate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul féliciterait son ami pour sa réussite.
Paul would congratulate his friend on his success.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | félicite | (that) I congratulate | |
| tu | félicites | (that) you congratulate | |
| il / elle / on | félicite | (that) he / she / it congratulateson: (that) we congratulate / one congratulates | |
| nous | félicitions | (that) we congratulate | |
| vous | félicitiez | (that) you congratulate | |
| ils / elles | félicitent | (that) they congratulate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul félicite son ami pour sa réussite.
It is possible that Paul congratulates his friend on his success.
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 congratulate
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