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 lack.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manque | I lack | |
| tu | manques | you lack | |
| il / elle / on | manque | he / she / it lackson: we lack / one lacks | |
| nous | manquons | we lack | |
| vous | manquez | you lack | |
| ils / elles | manquent | they lack |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul manque de temps pour finir.
Paul lacks time to finish.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai manqué | I lacked | |
| tu | as manqué | you lacked | |
| il / elle / on | a manqué | he / she / it lackedon: we lacked / one lacked | |
| nous | avons manqué | we lacked | |
| vous | avez manqué | you lacked | |
| ils / elles | ont manqué | they lacked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a manqué de temps pour finir.
Yesterday, Paul lacked time to finish.
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’ | manquais | I lacked | |
| tu | manquais | you lacked | |
| il / elle / on | manquait | he / she / it lackedon: we lacked / one lacked | |
| nous | manquions | we lacked | |
| vous | manquiez | you lacked | |
| ils / elles | manquaient | they lacked |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul manquait de temps pour finir.
Back then, Paul lacked time to finish.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manquerai | I will lack | |
| tu | manqueras | you will lack | |
| il / elle / on | manquera | he / she / it will lackon: we will lack / one will lack | |
| nous | manquerons | we will lack | |
| vous | manquerez | you will lack | |
| ils / elles | manqueront | they will lack |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul manquera de temps pour finir.
Later, Paul will lack time to finish.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manquerais | I would lack | |
| tu | manquerais | you would lack | |
| il / elle / on | manquerait | he / she / it would lackon: we would lack / one would lack | |
| nous | manquerions | we would lack | |
| vous | manqueriez | you would lack | |
| ils / elles | manqueraient | they would lack |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul manquerait de temps pour finir.
Paul would lack time to finish.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | manque | (that) I lack | |
| tu | manques | (that) you lack | |
| il / elle / on | manque | (that) he / she / it lackson: (that) we lack / one lacks | |
| nous | manquions | (that) we lack | |
| vous | manquiez | (that) you lack | |
| ils / elles | manquent | (that) they lack |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul manque de temps pour finir.
It is possible that Paul lacks time to finish.
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 lack; to be lacking in; to be short of [with de] (something)
- to miss [with à] (someone or something), literally "to be missing to someone"
- to fail in, to fail to fulfil [with à] (a duty, promise, obligation)
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