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 invite.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | invite | I invite | |
| tu | invites | you invite | |
| il / elle / on | invite | he / she / it inviteson: we invite / one invites | |
| nous | invitons | we invite | |
| vous | invitez | you invite | |
| ils / elles | invitent | they invite |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul invite ses voisins à dîner.
Paul invites his neighbours to dinner.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai invité | I invited | |
| tu | as invité | you invited | |
| il / elle / on | a invité | he / she / it invitedon: we invited / one invited | |
| nous | avons invité | we invited | |
| vous | avez invité | you invited | |
| ils / elles | ont invité | they invited |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a invité ses voisins à dîner.
Yesterday, Paul invited his neighbours to dinner.
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’ | invitais | I used to invite | |
| tu | invitais | you used to invite | |
| il / elle / on | invitait | he / she / it used to inviteon: we used to invite / one used to invite | |
| nous | invitions | we used to invite | |
| vous | invitiez | you used to invite | |
| ils / elles | invitaient | they used to invite |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul invitait ses voisins à dîner.
Back then, Paul used to invite his neighbours to dinner.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inviterai | I will invite | |
| tu | inviteras | you will invite | |
| il / elle / on | invitera | he / she / it will inviteon: we will invite / one will invite | |
| nous | inviterons | we will invite | |
| vous | inviterez | you will invite | |
| ils / elles | inviteront | they will invite |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul invitera ses voisins à dîner.
Later, Paul will invite his neighbours to dinner.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | inviterais | I would invite | |
| tu | inviterais | you would invite | |
| il / elle / on | inviterait | he / she / it would inviteon: we would invite / one would invite | |
| nous | inviterions | we would invite | |
| vous | inviteriez | you would invite | |
| ils / elles | inviteraient | they would invite |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul inviterait ses voisins à dîner.
Paul would invite his neighbours to dinner.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | invite | (that) I invite | |
| tu | invites | (that) you invite | |
| il / elle / on | invite | (that) he / she / it inviteson: (that) we invite / one invites | |
| nous | invitions | (that) we invite | |
| vous | invitiez | (that) you invite | |
| ils / elles | invitent | (that) they invite |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul invite ses voisins à dîner.
It is possible that Paul invites his neighbours to dinner.
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 invite
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