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 toast.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grille | I toast | |
| tu | grilles | you toast | |
| il / elle / on | grille | he / she / it toastson: we toast / one toasts | |
| nous | grillons | we toast | |
| vous | grillez | you toast | |
| ils / elles | grillent | they toast |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul grille une tranche de pain.
Paul toasts a slice of bread.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai grillé | I toasted | |
| tu | as grillé | you toasted | |
| il / elle / on | a grillé | he / she / it toastedon: we toasted / one toasted | |
| nous | avons grillé | we toasted | |
| vous | avez grillé | you toasted | |
| ils / elles | ont grillé | they toasted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a grillé une tranche de pain.
Yesterday, Paul toasted a slice of bread.
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’ | grillais | I used to toast | |
| tu | grillais | you used to toast | |
| il / elle / on | grillait | he / she / it used to toaston: we used to toast / one used to toast | |
| nous | grillions | we used to toast | |
| vous | grilliez | you used to toast | |
| ils / elles | grillaient | they used to toast |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul grillait une tranche de pain.
Back then, Paul used to toast a slice of bread.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grillerai | I will toast | |
| tu | grilleras | you will toast | |
| il / elle / on | grillera | he / she / it will toaston: we will toast / one will toast | |
| nous | grillerons | we will toast | |
| vous | grillerez | you will toast | |
| ils / elles | grilleront | they will toast |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul grillera une tranche de pain.
Later, Paul will toast a slice of bread.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grillerais | I would toast | |
| tu | grillerais | you would toast | |
| il / elle / on | grillerait | he / she / it would toaston: we would toast / one would toast | |
| nous | grillerions | we would toast | |
| vous | grilleriez | you would toast | |
| ils / elles | grilleraient | they would toast |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul grillerait une tranche de pain.
Paul would toast a slice of bread.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grille | (that) I toast | |
| tu | grilles | (that) you toast | |
| il / elle / on | grille | (that) he / she / it toastson: (that) we toast / one toasts | |
| nous | grillions | (that) we toast | |
| vous | grilliez | (that) you toast | |
| ils / elles | grillent | (that) they toast |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul grille une tranche de pain.
It is possible that Paul toasts a slice of bread.
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 toast (cook with a toaster)
- to grill (cook with a grill)
- to toast (heat up, said of e.g. skin)
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