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 taste.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | goûte | I taste | |
| tu | goûtes | you taste | |
| il / elle / on | goûte | he / she / it tasteson: we taste / one tastes | |
| nous | goûtons | we taste | |
| vous | goûtez | you taste | |
| ils / elles | goûtent | they taste |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul goûte la soupe avant de la servir.
Paul tastes the soup before serving it.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai goûté | I tasted | |
| tu | as goûté | you tasted | |
| il / elle / on | a goûté | he / she / it tastedon: we tasted / one tasted | |
| nous | avons goûté | we tasted | |
| vous | avez goûté | you tasted | |
| ils / elles | ont goûté | they tasted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a goûté la soupe avant de la servir.
Yesterday, Paul tasted the soup before serving it.
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’ | goûtais | I used to taste | |
| tu | goûtais | you used to taste | |
| il / elle / on | goûtait | he / she / it used to tasteon: we used to taste / one used to taste | |
| nous | goûtions | we used to taste | |
| vous | goûtiez | you used to taste | |
| ils / elles | goûtaient | they used to taste |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul goûtait la soupe avant de la servir.
Back then, Paul used to taste the soup before serving it.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | goûterai | I will taste | |
| tu | goûteras | you will taste | |
| il / elle / on | goûtera | he / she / it will tasteon: we will taste / one will taste | |
| nous | goûterons | we will taste | |
| vous | goûterez | you will taste | |
| ils / elles | goûteront | they will taste |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul goûtera la soupe avant de la servir.
Later, Paul will taste the soup before serving it.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | goûterais | I would taste | |
| tu | goûterais | you would taste | |
| il / elle / on | goûterait | he / she / it would tasteon: we would taste / one would taste | |
| nous | goûterions | we would taste | |
| vous | goûteriez | you would taste | |
| ils / elles | goûteraient | they would taste |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul goûterait la soupe avant de la servir.
Paul would taste the soup before serving it.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | goûte | (that) I taste | |
| tu | goûtes | (that) you taste | |
| il / elle / on | goûte | (that) he / she / it tasteson: (that) we taste / one tastes | |
| nous | goûtions | (that) we taste | |
| vous | goûtiez | (that) you taste | |
| ils / elles | goûtent | (that) they taste |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul goûte la soupe avant de la servir.
It is possible that Paul tastes the soup before serving it.
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 taste, to try (to sample something orally)
- to taste like
- to approve, to appreciate
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