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 wash.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lave | I wash | |
| tu | laves | you wash | |
| il / elle / on | lave | he / she / it washeson: we wash / one washes | |
| nous | lavons | we wash | |
| vous | lavez | you wash | |
| ils / elles | lavent | they wash |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul lave les pommes avant le repas.
Paul washes the apples before the meal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai lavé | I washed | |
| tu | as lavé | you washed | |
| il / elle / on | a lavé | he / she / it washedon: we washed / one washed | |
| nous | avons lavé | we washed | |
| vous | avez lavé | you washed | |
| ils / elles | ont lavé | they washed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a lavé les pommes avant le repas.
Yesterday, Paul washed the apples before the meal.
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’ | lavais | I used to wash | |
| tu | lavais | you used to wash | |
| il / elle / on | lavait | he / she / it used to washon: we used to wash / one used to wash | |
| nous | lavions | we used to wash | |
| vous | laviez | you used to wash | |
| ils / elles | lavaient | they used to wash |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul lavait les pommes avant le repas.
Back then, Paul used to wash the apples before the meal.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | laverai | I will wash | |
| tu | laveras | you will wash | |
| il / elle / on | lavera | he / she / it will washon: we will wash / one will wash | |
| nous | laverons | we will wash | |
| vous | laverez | you will wash | |
| ils / elles | laveront | they will wash |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul lavera les pommes avant le repas.
Later, Paul will wash the apples before the meal.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | laverais | I would wash | |
| tu | laverais | you would wash | |
| il / elle / on | laverait | he / she / it would washon: we would wash / one would wash | |
| nous | laverions | we would wash | |
| vous | laveriez | you would wash | |
| ils / elles | laveraient | they would wash |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul laverait les pommes avant le repas.
Paul would wash the apples before the meal.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lave | (that) I wash | |
| tu | laves | (that) you wash | |
| il / elle / on | lave | (that) he / she / it washeson: (that) we wash / one washes | |
| nous | lavions | (that) we wash | |
| vous | laviez | (that) you wash | |
| ils / elles | lavent | (that) they wash |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul lave les pommes avant le repas.
It is possible that Paul washes the apples before the meal.
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 wash
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