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 lie.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mens | I lie | |
| tu | mens | you lie | |
| il / elle / on | ment | he / she / it lieson: we lie / one lies | |
| nous | mentons | we lie | |
| vous | mentez | you lie | |
| ils / elles | mentent | they lie |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ment à son voisin.
Paul lies to his neighbor.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai menti | I lied | |
| tu | as menti | you lied | |
| il / elle / on | a menti | he / she / it liedon: we lied / one lied | |
| nous | avons menti | we lied | |
| vous | avez menti | you lied | |
| ils / elles | ont menti | they lied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a menti à son voisin.
Yesterday, Paul lied to his neighbor.
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’ | mentais | I used to lie | |
| tu | mentais | you used to lie | |
| il / elle / on | mentait | he / she / it used to lieon: we used to lie / one used to lie | |
| nous | mentions | we used to lie | |
| vous | mentiez | you used to lie | |
| ils / elles | mentaient | they used to lie |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul mentait à son voisin.
Back then, Paul used to lie to his neighbor.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mentirai | I will lie | |
| tu | mentiras | you will lie | |
| il / elle / on | mentira | he / she / it will lieon: we will lie / one will lie | |
| nous | mentirons | we will lie | |
| vous | mentirez | you will lie | |
| ils / elles | mentiront | they will lie |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul mentira à son voisin.
Later, Paul will lie to his neighbor.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mentirais | I would lie | |
| tu | mentirais | you would lie | |
| il / elle / on | mentirait | he / she / it would lieon: we would lie / one would lie | |
| nous | mentirions | we would lie | |
| vous | mentiriez | you would lie | |
| ils / elles | mentiraient | they would lie |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul mentirait à son voisin.
Paul would lie to his neighbor.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mente | (that) I lie | |
| tu | mentes | (that) you lie | |
| il / elle / on | mente | (that) he / she / it lieson: (that) we lie / one lies | |
| nous | mentions | (that) we lie | |
| vous | mentiez | (that) you lie | |
| ils / elles | mentent | (that) they lie |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul mente à son voisin.
It is possible that Paul lies to his neighbor.
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 lie (say something untrue)
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