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 melt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonds | I melt | |
| tu | fonds | you melt | |
| il / elle / on | fond | he / she / it meltson: we melt / one melts | |
| nous | fondons | we melt | |
| vous | fondez | you melt | |
| ils / elles | fondent | they melt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le chocolat fond dans la casserole.
The chocolate melts in the saucepan.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fondu | I melted | |
| tu | as fondu | you melted | |
| il / elle / on | a fondu | he / she / it meltedon: we melted / one melted | |
| nous | avons fondu | we melted | |
| vous | avez fondu | you melted | |
| ils / elles | ont fondu | they melted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le chocolat a fondu dans la casserole.
Yesterday, the chocolate melted in the saucepan.
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 melt | |
| tu | fondais | you used to melt | |
| il / elle / on | fondait | he / she / it used to melton: we used to melt / one used to melt | |
| nous | fondions | we used to melt | |
| vous | fondiez | you used to melt | |
| ils / elles | fondaient | they used to melt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le chocolat fondait dans la casserole.
Back then, the chocolate used to melt in the saucepan.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fondrai | I will melt | |
| tu | fondras | you will melt | |
| il / elle / on | fondra | he / she / it will melton: we will melt / one will melt | |
| nous | fondrons | we will melt | |
| vous | fondrez | you will melt | |
| ils / elles | fondront | they will melt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le chocolat fondra dans la casserole.
Later, the chocolate will melt in the saucepan.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fondrais | I would melt | |
| tu | fondrais | you would melt | |
| il / elle / on | fondrait | he / she / it would melton: we would melt / one would melt | |
| nous | fondrions | we would melt | |
| vous | fondriez | you would melt | |
| ils / elles | fondraient | they would melt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le chocolat fondrait dans la casserole.
The chocolate would melt in the saucepan.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fonde | (that) I melt | |
| tu | fondes | (that) you melt | |
| il / elle / on | fonde | (that) he / she / it meltson: (that) we melt / one melts | |
| nous | fondions | (that) we melt | |
| vous | fondiez | (that) you melt | |
| ils / elles | fondent | (that) they melt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le chocolat fonde dans la casserole.
It is possible that the chocolate melts in the saucepan.
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 melt, melt down, smelt
- to melt
- to melt away, waste away
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