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 hit.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | frappe | I hit | |
| tu | frappes | you hit | |
| il / elle / on | frappe | he / she / it hitson: we hit / one hits | |
| nous | frappons | we hit | |
| vous | frappez | you hit | |
| ils / elles | frappent | they hit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul frappe la balle avec sa raquette.
Paul hits the ball with his racket.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai frappé | I hit | |
| tu | as frappé | you hit | |
| il / elle / on | a frappé | he / she / it hiton: we hit / one hit | |
| nous | avons frappé | we hit | |
| vous | avez frappé | you hit | |
| ils / elles | ont frappé | they hit |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a frappé la balle avec sa raquette.
Yesterday, Paul hit the ball with his racket.
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’ | frappais | I used to hit | |
| tu | frappais | you used to hit | |
| il / elle / on | frappait | he / she / it used to hiton: we used to hit / one used to hit | |
| nous | frappions | we used to hit | |
| vous | frappiez | you used to hit | |
| ils / elles | frappaient | they used to hit |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul frappait la balle avec sa raquette.
Back then, Paul used to hit the ball with his racket.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | frapperai | I will hit | |
| tu | frapperas | you will hit | |
| il / elle / on | frappera | he / she / it will hiton: we will hit / one will hit | |
| nous | frapperons | we will hit | |
| vous | frapperez | you will hit | |
| ils / elles | frapperont | they will hit |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul frappera la balle avec sa raquette.
Later, Paul will hit the ball with his racket.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | frapperais | I would hit | |
| tu | frapperais | you would hit | |
| il / elle / on | frapperait | he / she / it would hiton: we would hit / one would hit | |
| nous | frapperions | we would hit | |
| vous | frapperiez | you would hit | |
| ils / elles | frapperaient | they would hit |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul frapperait la balle avec sa raquette.
Paul would hit the ball with his racket.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | frappe | (that) I hit | |
| tu | frappes | (that) you hit | |
| il / elle / on | frappe | (that) he / she / it hitson: (that) we hit / one hits | |
| nous | frappions | (that) we hit | |
| vous | frappiez | (that) you hit | |
| ils / elles | frappent | (that) they hit |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul frappe la balle avec sa raquette.
It is possible that Paul hits the ball with his racket.
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 hit, to strike, to bash
- to knock (e.g. on a door)
- to bang (to get attention)
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