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 leave.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | laisse | I leave | |
| tu | laisses | you leave | |
| il / elle / on | laisse | he / she / it leaveson: we leave / one leaves | |
| nous | laissons | we leave | |
| vous | laissez | you leave | |
| ils / elles | laissent | they leave |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul laisse son manteau dans la voiture.
Paul leaves his coat in the car.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai laissé | I left | |
| tu | as laissé | you left | |
| il / elle / on | a laissé | he / she / it lefton: we left / one left | |
| nous | avons laissé | we left | |
| vous | avez laissé | you left | |
| ils / elles | ont laissé | they left |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a laissé son manteau dans la voiture.
Yesterday, Paul left his coat in the car.
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’ | laissais | I used to leave | |
| tu | laissais | you used to leave | |
| il / elle / on | laissait | he / she / it used to leaveon: we used to leave / one used to leave | |
| nous | laissions | we used to leave | |
| vous | laissiez | you used to leave | |
| ils / elles | laissaient | they used to leave |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul laissait son manteau dans la voiture.
Back then, Paul used to leave his coat in the car.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | laisserai | I will leave | |
| tu | laisseras | you will leave | |
| il / elle / on | laissera | he / she / it will leaveon: we will leave / one will leave | |
| nous | laisserons | we will leave | |
| vous | laisserez | you will leave | |
| ils / elles | laisseront | they will leave |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul laissera son manteau dans la voiture.
Later, Paul will leave his coat in the car.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | laisserais | I would leave | |
| tu | laisserais | you would leave | |
| il / elle / on | laisserait | he / she / it would leaveon: we would leave / one would leave | |
| nous | laisserions | we would leave | |
| vous | laisseriez | you would leave | |
| ils / elles | laisseraient | they would leave |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul laisserait son manteau dans la voiture.
Paul would leave his coat in the car.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | laisse | (that) I leave | |
| tu | laisses | (that) you leave | |
| il / elle / on | laisse | (that) he / she / it leaveson: (that) we leave / one leaves | |
| nous | laissions | (that) we leave | |
| vous | laissiez | (that) you leave | |
| ils / elles | laissent | (that) they leave |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul laisse son manteau dans la voiture.
It is possible that Paul leaves his coat in the car.
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 leave, to leave behind
- to forget, to leave alone
- to leave with, to give
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