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 conserve.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ménage | I conserve | |
| tu | ménages | you conserve | |
| il / elle / on | ménage | he / she / it conserveson: we conserve / one conserves | |
| nous | ménageons | we conserve | |
| vous | ménagez | you conserve | |
| ils / elles | ménagent | they conserve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ménage ses forces avant la course.
Paul conserves his strength before the race.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai ménagé | I conserved | |
| tu | as ménagé | you conserved | |
| il / elle / on | a ménagé | he / she / it conservedon: we conserved / one conserved | |
| nous | avons ménagé | we conserved | |
| vous | avez ménagé | you conserved | |
| ils / elles | ont ménagé | they conserved |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a ménagé ses forces avant la course.
Yesterday, Paul conserved his strength before the race.
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’ | ménageais | I used to conserve | |
| tu | ménageais | you used to conserve | |
| il / elle / on | ménageait | he / she / it used to conserveon: we used to conserve / one used to conserve | |
| nous | ménagions | we used to conserve | |
| vous | ménagiez | you used to conserve | |
| ils / elles | ménageaient | they used to conserve |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul ménageait ses forces avant la course.
Back then, Paul used to conserve his strength before the race.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ménagerai | I will conserve | |
| tu | ménageras | you will conserve | |
| il / elle / on | ménagera | he / she / it will conserveon: we will conserve / one will conserve | |
| nous | ménagerons | we will conserve | |
| vous | ménagerez | you will conserve | |
| ils / elles | ménageront | they will conserve |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul ménagera ses forces avant la course.
Later, Paul will conserve his strength before the race.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ménagerais | I would conserve | |
| tu | ménagerais | you would conserve | |
| il / elle / on | ménagerait | he / she / it would conserveon: we would conserve / one would conserve | |
| nous | ménagerions | we would conserve | |
| vous | ménageriez | you would conserve | |
| ils / elles | ménageraient | they would conserve |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul ménagerait ses forces avant la course.
Paul would conserve his strength before the race.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ménage | (that) I conserve | |
| tu | ménages | (that) you conserve | |
| il / elle / on | ménage | (that) he / she / it conserveson: (that) we conserve / one conserves | |
| nous | ménagions | (that) we conserve | |
| vous | ménagiez | (that) you conserve | |
| ils / elles | ménagent | (that) they conserve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul ménage ses forces avant la course.
It is possible that Paul conserves his strength before the race.
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 husband, to conserve
- to treat gently, treat nicely
- to conserve, go easy on
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