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 raise.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lève | I raise | |
| tu | lèves | you raise | |
| il / elle / on | lève | he / she / it raiseson: we raise / one raises | |
| nous | levons | we raise | |
| vous | levez | you raise | |
| ils / elles | lèvent | they raise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul lève la main pour poser une question.
Paul raises his hand to ask a question.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai levé | I raised | |
| tu | as levé | you raised | |
| il / elle / on | a levé | he / she / it raisedon: we raised / one raised | |
| nous | avons levé | we raised | |
| vous | avez levé | you raised | |
| ils / elles | ont levé | they raised |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a levé la main pour poser une question.
Yesterday, Paul raised his hand to ask a question.
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’ | levais | I used to raise | |
| tu | levais | you used to raise | |
| il / elle / on | levait | he / she / it used to raiseon: we used to raise / one used to raise | |
| nous | levions | we used to raise | |
| vous | leviez | you used to raise | |
| ils / elles | levaient | they used to raise |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul levait la main pour poser une question.
Back then, Paul used to raise his hand to ask a question.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lèverai | I will raise | |
| tu | lèveras | you will raise | |
| il / elle / on | lèvera | he / she / it will raiseon: we will raise / one will raise | |
| nous | lèverons | we will raise | |
| vous | lèverez | you will raise | |
| ils / elles | lèveront | they will raise |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul lèvera la main pour poser une question.
Later, Paul will raise his hand to ask a question.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lèverais | I would raise | |
| tu | lèverais | you would raise | |
| il / elle / on | lèverait | he / she / it would raiseon: we would raise / one would raise | |
| nous | lèverions | we would raise | |
| vous | lèveriez | you would raise | |
| ils / elles | lèveraient | they would raise |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul lèverait la main pour poser une question.
Paul would raise his hand to ask a question.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | lève | (that) I raise | |
| tu | lèves | (that) you raise | |
| il / elle / on | lève | (that) he / she / it raiseson: (that) we raise / one raises | |
| nous | levions | (that) we raise | |
| vous | leviez | (that) you raise | |
| ils / elles | lèvent | (that) they raise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul lève la main pour poser une question.
It is possible that Paul raises his hand to ask a question.
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 raise, lift
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