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 celebrate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fête | I celebrate | |
| tu | fêtes | you celebrate | |
| il / elle / on | fête | he / she / it celebrateson: we celebrate / one celebrates | |
| nous | fêtons | we celebrate | |
| vous | fêtez | you celebrate | |
| ils / elles | fêtent | they celebrate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul fête son anniversaire avec sa famille.
Paul celebrates his birthday with his family.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fêté | I celebrated | |
| tu | as fêté | you celebrated | |
| il / elle / on | a fêté | he / she / it celebratedon: we celebrated / one celebrated | |
| nous | avons fêté | we celebrated | |
| vous | avez fêté | you celebrated | |
| ils / elles | ont fêté | they celebrated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a fêté son anniversaire avec sa famille.
Yesterday, Paul celebrated his birthday with his family.
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’ | fêtais | I used to celebrate | |
| tu | fêtais | you used to celebrate | |
| il / elle / on | fêtait | he / she / it used to celebrateon: we used to celebrate / one used to celebrate | |
| nous | fêtions | we used to celebrate | |
| vous | fêtiez | you used to celebrate | |
| ils / elles | fêtaient | they used to celebrate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul fêtait son anniversaire avec sa famille.
Back then, Paul used to celebrate his birthday with his family.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fêterai | I will celebrate | |
| tu | fêteras | you will celebrate | |
| il / elle / on | fêtera | he / she / it will celebrateon: we will celebrate / one will celebrate | |
| nous | fêterons | we will celebrate | |
| vous | fêterez | you will celebrate | |
| ils / elles | fêteront | they will celebrate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul fêtera son anniversaire avec sa famille.
Later, Paul will celebrate his birthday with his family.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fêterais | I would celebrate | |
| tu | fêterais | you would celebrate | |
| il / elle / on | fêterait | he / she / it would celebrateon: we would celebrate / one would celebrate | |
| nous | fêterions | we would celebrate | |
| vous | fêteriez | you would celebrate | |
| ils / elles | fêteraient | they would celebrate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul fêterait son anniversaire avec sa famille.
Paul would celebrate his birthday with his family.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fête | (that) I celebrate | |
| tu | fêtes | (that) you celebrate | |
| il / elle / on | fête | (that) he / she / it celebrateson: (that) we celebrate / one celebrates | |
| nous | fêtions | (that) we celebrate | |
| vous | fêtiez | (that) you celebrate | |
| ils / elles | fêtent | (that) they celebrate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul fête son anniversaire avec sa famille.
It is possible that Paul celebrates his birthday with his family.
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 celebrate (an event)
- to celebrate (somebody)
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