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 mark.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | marque | I mark | |
| tu | marques | you mark | |
| il / elle / on | marque | he / she / it markson: we mark / one marks | |
| nous | marquons | we mark | |
| vous | marquez | you mark | |
| ils / elles | marquent | they mark |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul marque la page avec un crayon.
Paul marks the page with a pencil.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai marqué | I marked | |
| tu | as marqué | you marked | |
| il / elle / on | a marqué | he / she / it markedon: we marked / one marked | |
| nous | avons marqué | we marked | |
| vous | avez marqué | you marked | |
| ils / elles | ont marqué | they marked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a marqué la page avec un crayon.
Yesterday, Paul marked the page with a pencil.
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’ | marquais | I used to mark | |
| tu | marquais | you used to mark | |
| il / elle / on | marquait | he / she / it used to markon: we used to mark / one used to mark | |
| nous | marquions | we used to mark | |
| vous | marquiez | you used to mark | |
| ils / elles | marquaient | they used to mark |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul marquait la page avec un crayon.
Back then, Paul used to mark the page with a pencil.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | marquerai | I will mark | |
| tu | marqueras | you will mark | |
| il / elle / on | marquera | he / she / it will markon: we will mark / one will mark | |
| nous | marquerons | we will mark | |
| vous | marquerez | you will mark | |
| ils / elles | marqueront | they will mark |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul marquera la page avec un crayon.
Later, Paul will mark the page with a pencil.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | marquerais | I would mark | |
| tu | marquerais | you would mark | |
| il / elle / on | marquerait | he / she / it would markon: we would mark / one would mark | |
| nous | marquerions | we would mark | |
| vous | marqueriez | you would mark | |
| ils / elles | marqueraient | they would mark |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul marquerait la page avec un crayon.
Paul would mark the page with a pencil.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | marque | (that) I mark | |
| tu | marques | (that) you mark | |
| il / elle / on | marque | (that) he / she / it markson: (that) we mark / one marks | |
| nous | marquions | (that) we mark | |
| vous | marquiez | (that) you mark | |
| ils / elles | marquent | (that) they mark |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul marque la page avec un crayon.
It is possible that Paul marks the page with a pencil.
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 mark, mark down (to add a mark or a spot to something)
- to mark (to place a mark in something as a reminder)
- to brand (brandish someone's skin with a mark)
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