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 work.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonctionne | I work | |
| tu | fonctionnes | you work | |
| il / elle / on | fonctionne | he / she / it workson: we work / one works | |
| nous | fonctionnons | we work | |
| vous | fonctionnez | you work | |
| ils / elles | fonctionnent | they work |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le moteur fonctionne bien.
The engine works well.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fonctionné | I worked | |
| tu | as fonctionné | you worked | |
| il / elle / on | a fonctionné | he / she / it workedon: we worked / one worked | |
| nous | avons fonctionné | we worked | |
| vous | avez fonctionné | you worked | |
| ils / elles | ont fonctionné | they worked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le moteur a fonctionné bien.
Yesterday, the engine worked well.
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’ | fonctionnais | I used to work | |
| tu | fonctionnais | you used to work | |
| il / elle / on | fonctionnait | he / she / it used to workon: we used to work / one used to work | |
| nous | fonctionnions | we used to work | |
| vous | fonctionniez | you used to work | |
| ils / elles | fonctionnaient | they used to work |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le moteur fonctionnait bien.
Back then, the engine used to work well.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonctionnerai | I will work | |
| tu | fonctionneras | you will work | |
| il / elle / on | fonctionnera | he / she / it will workon: we will work / one will work | |
| nous | fonctionnerons | we will work | |
| vous | fonctionnerez | you will work | |
| ils / elles | fonctionneront | they will work |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le moteur fonctionnera bien.
Later, the engine will work well.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonctionnerais | I would work | |
| tu | fonctionnerais | you would work | |
| il / elle / on | fonctionnerait | he / she / it would workon: we would work / one would work | |
| nous | fonctionnerions | we would work | |
| vous | fonctionneriez | you would work | |
| ils / elles | fonctionneraient | they would work |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le moteur fonctionnerait bien.
The engine would work well.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonctionne | (that) I work | |
| tu | fonctionnes | (that) you work | |
| il / elle / on | fonctionne | (that) he / she / it workson: (that) we work / one works | |
| nous | fonctionnions | (that) we work | |
| vous | fonctionniez | (that) you work | |
| ils / elles | fonctionnent | (that) they work |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le moteur fonctionne bien.
It is possible that the engine works well.
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 function, to work
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