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 climb.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grimpe | I climb | |
| tu | grimpes | you climb | |
| il / elle / on | grimpe | he / she / it climbson: we climb / one climbs | |
| nous | grimpons | we climb | |
| vous | grimpez | you climb | |
| ils / elles | grimpent | they climb |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul grimpe dans l'arbre pour voir le paysage.
Paul climbs the tree to see the landscape.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai grimpé | I climbed | |
| tu | as grimpé | you climbed | |
| il / elle / on | a grimpé | he / she / it climbedon: we climbed / one climbed | |
| nous | avons grimpé | we climbed | |
| vous | avez grimpé | you climbed | |
| ils / elles | ont grimpé | they climbed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a grimpé dans l'arbre pour voir le paysage.
Yesterday, Paul climbed the tree to see the landscape.
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’ | grimpais | I used to climb | |
| tu | grimpais | you used to climb | |
| il / elle / on | grimpait | he / she / it used to climbon: we used to climb / one used to climb | |
| nous | grimpions | we used to climb | |
| vous | grimpiez | you used to climb | |
| ils / elles | grimpaient | they used to climb |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul grimpait dans l'arbre pour voir le paysage.
Back then, Paul used to climb the tree to see the landscape.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grimperai | I will climb | |
| tu | grimperas | you will climb | |
| il / elle / on | grimpera | he / she / it will climbon: we will climb / one will climb | |
| nous | grimperons | we will climb | |
| vous | grimperez | you will climb | |
| ils / elles | grimperont | they will climb |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul grimpera dans l'arbre pour voir le paysage.
Later, Paul will climb the tree to see the landscape.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grimperais | I would climb | |
| tu | grimperais | you would climb | |
| il / elle / on | grimperait | he / she / it would climbon: we would climb / one would climb | |
| nous | grimperions | we would climb | |
| vous | grimperiez | you would climb | |
| ils / elles | grimperaient | they would climb |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul grimperait dans l'arbre pour voir le paysage.
Paul would climb the tree to see the landscape.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | grimpe | (that) I climb | |
| tu | grimpes | (that) you climb | |
| il / elle / on | grimpe | (that) he / she / it climbson: (that) we climb / one climbs | |
| nous | grimpions | (that) we climb | |
| vous | grimpiez | (that) you climb | |
| ils / elles | grimpent | (that) they climb |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul grimpe dans l'arbre pour voir le paysage.
It is possible that Paul climbs the tree to see the landscape.
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
- (climbing) to climb, climb up
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