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 eat.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mange | I eat | |
| tu | manges | you eat | |
| il / elle / on | mange | he / she / it eatson: we eat / one eats | |
| nous | mangeons | we eat | |
| vous | mangez | you eat | |
| ils / elles | mangent | they eat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul mange une pomme après le repas.
Paul eats an apple after the meal.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai mangé | I ate | |
| tu | as mangé | you ate | |
| il / elle / on | a mangé | he / she / it ateon: we ate / one ate | |
| nous | avons mangé | we ate | |
| vous | avez mangé | you ate | |
| ils / elles | ont mangé | they ate |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a mangé une pomme après le repas.
Yesterday, Paul ate an apple after 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’ | mangeais | I used to eat | |
| tu | mangeais | you used to eat | |
| il / elle / on | mangeait | he / she / it used to eaton: we used to eat / one used to eat | |
| nous | mangions | we used to eat | |
| vous | mangiez | you used to eat | |
| ils / elles | mangeaient | they used to eat |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul mangeait une pomme après le repas.
Back then, Paul used to eat an apple after the meal.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mangerai | I will eat | |
| tu | mangeras | you will eat | |
| il / elle / on | mangera | he / she / it will eaton: we will eat / one will eat | |
| nous | mangerons | we will eat | |
| vous | mangerez | you will eat | |
| ils / elles | mangeront | they will eat |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul mangera une pomme après le repas.
Later, Paul will eat an apple after the meal.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mangerais | I would eat | |
| tu | mangerais | you would eat | |
| il / elle / on | mangerait | he / she / it would eaton: we would eat / one would eat | |
| nous | mangerions | we would eat | |
| vous | mangeriez | you would eat | |
| ils / elles | mangeraient | they would eat |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul mangerait une pomme après le repas.
Paul would eat an apple after the meal.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mange | (that) I eat | |
| tu | manges | (that) you eat | |
| il / elle / on | mange | (that) he / she / it eatson: (that) we eat / one eats | |
| nous | mangions | (that) we eat | |
| vous | mangiez | (that) you eat | |
| ils / elles | mangent | (that) they eat |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul mange une pomme après le repas.
It is possible that Paul eats an apple after 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 eat
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