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 lead.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mène | I lead | |
| tu | mènes | you lead | |
| il / elle / on | mène | he / she / it leadson: we lead / one leads | |
| nous | menons | we lead | |
| vous | menez | you lead | |
| ils / elles | mènent | they lead |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul mène le groupe jusqu'à la gare.
Paul leads the group to the station.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai mené | I led | |
| tu | as mené | you led | |
| il / elle / on | a mené | he / she / it ledon: we led / one led | |
| nous | avons mené | we led | |
| vous | avez mené | you led | |
| ils / elles | ont mené | they led |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a mené le groupe jusqu'à la gare.
Yesterday, Paul led the group to the station.
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’ | menais | I used to lead | |
| tu | menais | you used to lead | |
| il / elle / on | menait | he / she / it used to leadon: we used to lead / one used to lead | |
| nous | menions | we used to lead | |
| vous | meniez | you used to lead | |
| ils / elles | menaient | they used to lead |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul menait le groupe jusqu'à la gare.
Back then, Paul used to lead the group to the station.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mènerai | I will lead | |
| tu | mèneras | you will lead | |
| il / elle / on | mènera | he / she / it will leadon: we will lead / one will lead | |
| nous | mènerons | we will lead | |
| vous | mènerez | you will lead | |
| ils / elles | mèneront | they will lead |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul mènera le groupe jusqu'à la gare.
Later, Paul will lead the group to the station.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mènerais | I would lead | |
| tu | mènerais | you would lead | |
| il / elle / on | mènerait | he / she / it would leadon: we would lead / one would lead | |
| nous | mènerions | we would lead | |
| vous | mèneriez | you would lead | |
| ils / elles | mèneraient | they would lead |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul mènerait le groupe jusqu'à la gare.
Paul would lead the group to the station.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mène | (that) I lead | |
| tu | mènes | (that) you lead | |
| il / elle / on | mène | (that) he / she / it leadson: (that) we lead / one leads | |
| nous | menions | (that) we lead | |
| vous | meniez | (that) you lead | |
| ils / elles | mènent | (that) they lead |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul mène le groupe jusqu'à la gare.
It is possible that Paul leads the group to the station.
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 lead, to take
- to lead, to run, to take charge
- to lead, to be leading, to be in the lead
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