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 go up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | monte | I go up | |
| tu | montes | you go up | |
| il / elle / on | monte | he / she / it goes upon: we go up / one goes up | |
| nous | montons | we go up | |
| vous | montez | you go up | |
| ils / elles | montent | they go up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul monte au troisième étage.
Paul goes up to the third floor.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis monté / suis montée | I went up | |
| tu | es monté / es montée | you went up | |
| il / elle / on | est monté / est montée | he / she / it went upon: we went up / one went up | |
| nous | sommes montés / sommes montées | we went up | |
| vous | êtes monté / êtes montée / êtes montés / êtes montées | you went up | |
| ils / elles | sont montés / sont montées | they went up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est monté au troisième étage.
Yesterday, Paul went up to the third floor.
The passé composé shown is the intransitive motion use with être. With a direct object, this verb can use avoir; check the meaning in context. With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | montais | I used to go up | |
| tu | montais | you used to go up | |
| il / elle / on | montait | he / she / it used to go upon: we used to go up / one used to go up | |
| nous | montions | we used to go up | |
| vous | montiez | you used to go up | |
| ils / elles | montaient | they used to go up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul montait au troisième étage.
Back then, Paul used to go up to the third floor.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | monterai | I will go up | |
| tu | monteras | you will go up | |
| il / elle / on | montera | he / she / it will go upon: we will go up / one will go up | |
| nous | monterons | we will go up | |
| vous | monterez | you will go up | |
| ils / elles | monteront | they will go up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul montera au troisième étage.
Later, Paul will go up to the third floor.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | monterais | I would go up | |
| tu | monterais | you would go up | |
| il / elle / on | monterait | he / she / it would go upon: we would go up / one would go up | |
| nous | monterions | we would go up | |
| vous | monteriez | you would go up | |
| ils / elles | monteraient | they would go up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul monterait au troisième étage.
Paul would go up to the third floor.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | monte | (that) I go up | |
| tu | montes | (that) you go up | |
| il / elle / on | monte | (that) he / she / it goes upon: (that) we go up / one goes up | |
| nous | montions | (that) we go up | |
| vous | montiez | (that) you go up | |
| ils / elles | montent | (that) they go up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul monte au troisième étage.
It is possible that Paul goes up to the third floor.
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 go up, to climb (go to a higher position)
- to ascend, go higher, go uphill, go upstairs
- to get on, get in (a vehicle)
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