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 bite.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mords | I bite | |
| tu | mords | you bite | |
| il / elle / on | mord | he / she / it biteson: we bite / one bites | |
| nous | mordons | we bite | |
| vous | mordez | you bite | |
| ils / elles | mordent | they bite |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le chien mord son jouet en caoutchouc.
The dog bites its rubber toy.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai mordu | I bit | |
| tu | as mordu | you bit | |
| il / elle / on | a mordu | he / she / it biton: we bit / one bit | |
| nous | avons mordu | we bit | |
| vous | avez mordu | you bit | |
| ils / elles | ont mordu | they bit |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le chien a mordu son jouet en caoutchouc.
Yesterday, the dog bit its rubber toy.
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’ | mordais | I used to bite | |
| tu | mordais | you used to bite | |
| il / elle / on | mordait | he / she / it used to biteon: we used to bite / one used to bite | |
| nous | mordions | we used to bite | |
| vous | mordiez | you used to bite | |
| ils / elles | mordaient | they used to bite |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le chien mordait son jouet en caoutchouc.
Back then, the dog used to bite its rubber toy.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mordrai | I will bite | |
| tu | mordras | you will bite | |
| il / elle / on | mordra | he / she / it will biteon: we will bite / one will bite | |
| nous | mordrons | we will bite | |
| vous | mordrez | you will bite | |
| ils / elles | mordront | they will bite |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le chien mordra son jouet en caoutchouc.
Later, the dog will bite its rubber toy.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | mordrais | I would bite | |
| tu | mordrais | you would bite | |
| il / elle / on | mordrait | he / she / it would biteon: we would bite / one would bite | |
| nous | mordrions | we would bite | |
| vous | mordriez | you would bite | |
| ils / elles | mordraient | they would bite |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le chien mordrait son jouet en caoutchouc.
The dog would bite its rubber toy.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | morde | (that) I bite | |
| tu | mordes | (that) you bite | |
| il / elle / on | morde | (that) he / she / it biteson: (that) we bite / one bites | |
| nous | mordions | (that) we bite | |
| vous | mordiez | (that) you bite | |
| ils / elles | mordent | (that) they bite |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le chien morde son jouet en caoutchouc.
It is possible that the dog bites its rubber toy.
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 bite
- to encroach
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