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 deserve.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mérite | I deserve | |
| tu | mérites | you deserve | |
| il / elle / on | mérite | he / she / it deserveson: we deserve / one deserves | |
| nous | méritons | we deserve | |
| vous | méritez | you deserve | |
| ils / elles | méritent | they deserve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul mérite une récompense.
Paul deserves a reward.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai mérité | I deserved | |
| tu | as mérité | you deserved | |
| il / elle / on | a mérité | he / she / it deservedon: we deserved / one deserved | |
| nous | avons mérité | we deserved | |
| vous | avez mérité | you deserved | |
| ils / elles | ont mérité | they deserved |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a mérité une récompense.
Yesterday, Paul deserved a reward.
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’ | méritais | I used to deserve | |
| tu | méritais | you used to deserve | |
| il / elle / on | méritait | he / she / it used to deserveon: we used to deserve / one used to deserve | |
| nous | méritions | we used to deserve | |
| vous | méritiez | you used to deserve | |
| ils / elles | méritaient | they used to deserve |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul méritait une récompense.
Back then, Paul used to deserve a reward.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mériterai | I will deserve | |
| tu | mériteras | you will deserve | |
| il / elle / on | méritera | he / she / it will deserveon: we will deserve / one will deserve | |
| nous | mériterons | we will deserve | |
| vous | mériterez | you will deserve | |
| ils / elles | mériteront | they will deserve |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul méritera une récompense.
Later, Paul will deserve a reward.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mériterais | I would deserve | |
| tu | mériterais | you would deserve | |
| il / elle / on | mériterait | he / she / it would deserveon: we would deserve / one would deserve | |
| nous | mériterions | we would deserve | |
| vous | mériteriez | you would deserve | |
| ils / elles | mériteraient | they would deserve |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul mériterait une récompense.
Paul would deserve a reward.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mérite | (that) I deserve | |
| tu | mérites | (that) you deserve | |
| il / elle / on | mérite | (that) he / she / it deserveson: (that) we deserve / one deserves | |
| nous | méritions | (that) we deserve | |
| vous | méritiez | (that) you deserve | |
| ils / elles | méritent | (that) they deserve |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul mérite une récompense.
It is possible that Paul deserves a reward.
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 deserve, merit
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