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 throw.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lance | I throw | |
| tu | lances | you throw | |
| il / elle / on | lance | he / she / it throwson: we throw / one throws | |
| nous | lançons | we throw | |
| vous | lancez | you throw | |
| ils / elles | lancent | they throw |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul lance la balle à son chien.
Paul throws the ball to his dog.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai lancé | I threw | |
| tu | as lancé | you threw | |
| il / elle / on | a lancé | he / she / it threwon: we threw / one threw | |
| nous | avons lancé | we threw | |
| vous | avez lancé | you threw | |
| ils / elles | ont lancé | they threw |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a lancé la balle à son chien.
Yesterday, Paul threw the ball to his dog.
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’ | lançais | I used to throw | |
| tu | lançais | you used to throw | |
| il / elle / on | lançait | he / she / it used to throwon: we used to throw / one used to throw | |
| nous | lancions | we used to throw | |
| vous | lanciez | you used to throw | |
| ils / elles | lançaient | they used to throw |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul lançait la balle à son chien.
Back then, Paul used to throw the ball to his dog.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lancerai | I will throw | |
| tu | lanceras | you will throw | |
| il / elle / on | lancera | he / she / it will throwon: we will throw / one will throw | |
| nous | lancerons | we will throw | |
| vous | lancerez | you will throw | |
| ils / elles | lanceront | they will throw |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul lancera la balle à son chien.
Later, Paul will throw the ball to his dog.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lancerais | I would throw | |
| tu | lancerais | you would throw | |
| il / elle / on | lancerait | he / she / it would throwon: we would throw / one would throw | |
| nous | lancerions | we would throw | |
| vous | lanceriez | you would throw | |
| ils / elles | lanceraient | they would throw |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul lancerait la balle à son chien.
Paul would throw the ball to his dog.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lance | (that) I throw | |
| tu | lances | (that) you throw | |
| il / elle / on | lance | (that) he / she / it throwson: (that) we throw / one throws | |
| nous | lancions | (that) we throw | |
| vous | lanciez | (that) you throw | |
| ils / elles | lancent | (that) they throw |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul lance la balle à son chien.
It is possible that Paul throws the ball to his dog.
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 throw
- to start, to launch
- to call out, yell
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