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 smoke.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fume | I smoke | |
| tu | fumes | you smoke | |
| il / elle / on | fume | he / she / it smokeson: we smoke / one smokes | |
| nous | fumons | we smoke | |
| vous | fumez | you smoke | |
| ils / elles | fument | they smoke |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul fume une cigarette dehors.
Paul smokes a cigarette outside.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fumé | I smoked | |
| tu | as fumé | you smoked | |
| il / elle / on | a fumé | he / she / it smokedon: we smoked / one smoked | |
| nous | avons fumé | we smoked | |
| vous | avez fumé | you smoked | |
| ils / elles | ont fumé | they smoked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a fumé une cigarette dehors.
Yesterday, Paul smoked a cigarette outside.
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’ | fumais | I used to smoke | |
| tu | fumais | you used to smoke | |
| il / elle / on | fumait | he / she / it used to smokeon: we used to smoke / one used to smoke | |
| nous | fumions | we used to smoke | |
| vous | fumiez | you used to smoke | |
| ils / elles | fumaient | they used to smoke |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul fumait une cigarette dehors.
Back then, Paul used to smoke a cigarette outside.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fumerai | I will smoke | |
| tu | fumeras | you will smoke | |
| il / elle / on | fumera | he / she / it will smokeon: we will smoke / one will smoke | |
| nous | fumerons | we will smoke | |
| vous | fumerez | you will smoke | |
| ils / elles | fumeront | they will smoke |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul fumera une cigarette dehors.
Later, Paul will smoke a cigarette outside.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fumerais | I would smoke | |
| tu | fumerais | you would smoke | |
| il / elle / on | fumerait | he / she / it would smokeon: we would smoke / one would smoke | |
| nous | fumerions | we would smoke | |
| vous | fumeriez | you would smoke | |
| ils / elles | fumeraient | they would smoke |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul fumerait une cigarette dehors.
Paul would smoke a cigarette outside.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fume | (that) I smoke | |
| tu | fumes | (that) you smoke | |
| il / elle / on | fume | (that) he / she / it smokeson: (that) we smoke / one smokes | |
| nous | fumions | (that) we smoke | |
| vous | fumiez | (that) you smoke | |
| ils / elles | fument | (that) they smoke |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul fume une cigarette dehors.
It is possible that Paul smokes a cigarette outside.
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 smoke
- to emit smoke
- to steam
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