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 found.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonde | I found | |
| tu | fondes | you found | |
| il / elle / on | fonde | he / she / it foundson: we found / one founds | |
| nous | fondons | we found | |
| vous | fondez | you found | |
| ils / elles | fondent | they found |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul fonde une association de quartier.
Paul founds a neighbourhood association.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fondé | I founded | |
| tu | as fondé | you founded | |
| il / elle / on | a fondé | he / she / it foundedon: we founded / one founded | |
| nous | avons fondé | we founded | |
| vous | avez fondé | you founded | |
| ils / elles | ont fondé | they founded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a fondé une association de quartier.
Yesterday, Paul founded a neighbourhood association.
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’ | fondais | I used to found | |
| tu | fondais | you used to found | |
| il / elle / on | fondait | he / she / it used to foundon: we used to found / one used to found | |
| nous | fondions | we used to found | |
| vous | fondiez | you used to found | |
| ils / elles | fondaient | they used to found |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul fondait une association de quartier.
Back then, Paul used to found a neighbourhood association.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonderai | I will found | |
| tu | fonderas | you will found | |
| il / elle / on | fondera | he / she / it will foundon: we will found / one will found | |
| nous | fonderons | we will found | |
| vous | fonderez | you will found | |
| ils / elles | fonderont | they will found |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul fondera une association de quartier.
Later, Paul will found a neighbourhood association.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonderais | I would found | |
| tu | fonderais | you would found | |
| il / elle / on | fonderait | he / she / it would foundon: we would found / one would found | |
| nous | fonderions | we would found | |
| vous | fonderiez | you would found | |
| ils / elles | fonderaient | they would found |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul fonderait une association de quartier.
Paul would found a neighbourhood association.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonde | (that) I found | |
| tu | fondes | (that) you found | |
| il / elle / on | fonde | (that) he / she / it foundson: (that) we found / one founds | |
| nous | fondions | (that) we found | |
| vous | fondiez | (that) you found | |
| ils / elles | fondent | (that) they found |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul fonde une association de quartier.
It is possible that Paul founds a neighbourhood association.
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 found
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