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 show.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | montre | I show | |
| tu | montres | you show | |
| il / elle / on | montre | he / she / it showson: we show / one shows | |
| nous | montrons | we show | |
| vous | montrez | you show | |
| ils / elles | montrent | they show |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul montre ses photos à sa famille.
Paul shows his photos to his family.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai montré | I showed | |
| tu | as montré | you showed | |
| il / elle / on | a montré | he / she / it showedon: we showed / one showed | |
| nous | avons montré | we showed | |
| vous | avez montré | you showed | |
| ils / elles | ont montré | they showed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a montré ses photos à sa famille.
Yesterday, Paul showed his photos to his family.
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’ | montrais | I used to show | |
| tu | montrais | you used to show | |
| il / elle / on | montrait | he / she / it used to showon: we used to show / one used to show | |
| nous | montrions | we used to show | |
| vous | montriez | you used to show | |
| ils / elles | montraient | they used to show |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul montrait ses photos à sa famille.
Back then, Paul used to show his photos to his family.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | montrerai | I will show | |
| tu | montreras | you will show | |
| il / elle / on | montrera | he / she / it will showon: we will show / one will show | |
| nous | montrerons | we will show | |
| vous | montrerez | you will show | |
| ils / elles | montreront | they will show |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul montrera ses photos à sa famille.
Later, Paul will show his photos to his family.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | montrerais | I would show | |
| tu | montrerais | you would show | |
| il / elle / on | montrerait | he / she / it would showon: we would show / one would show | |
| nous | montrerions | we would show | |
| vous | montreriez | you would show | |
| ils / elles | montreraient | they would show |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul montrerait ses photos à sa famille.
Paul would show his photos to his family.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | montre | (that) I show | |
| tu | montres | (that) you show | |
| il / elle / on | montre | (that) he / she / it showson: (that) we show / one shows | |
| nous | montrions | (that) we show | |
| vous | montriez | (that) you show | |
| ils / elles | montrent | (that) they show |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul montre ses photos à sa famille.
It is possible that Paul shows his photos to his family.
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 show
- to point to
- to point out
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