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 swim.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nage | I swim | |
| tu | nages | you swim | |
| il / elle / on | nage | he / she / it swimson: we swim / one swims | |
| nous | nageons | we swim | |
| vous | nagez | you swim | |
| ils / elles | nagent | they swim |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul nage près du bord.
Paul swims near the edge.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai nagé | I swam | |
| tu | as nagé | you swam | |
| il / elle / on | a nagé | he / she / it swamon: we swam / one swam | |
| nous | avons nagé | we swam | |
| vous | avez nagé | you swam | |
| ils / elles | ont nagé | they swam |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a nagé près du bord.
Yesterday, Paul swam near the edge.
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’ | nageais | I used to swim | |
| tu | nageais | you used to swim | |
| il / elle / on | nageait | he / she / it used to swimon: we used to swim / one used to swim | |
| nous | nagions | we used to swim | |
| vous | nagiez | you used to swim | |
| ils / elles | nageaient | they used to swim |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul nageait près du bord.
Back then, Paul used to swim near the edge.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nagerai | I will swim | |
| tu | nageras | you will swim | |
| il / elle / on | nagera | he / she / it will swimon: we will swim / one will swim | |
| nous | nagerons | we will swim | |
| vous | nagerez | you will swim | |
| ils / elles | nageront | they will swim |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul nagera près du bord.
Later, Paul will swim near the edge.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nagerais | I would swim | |
| tu | nagerais | you would swim | |
| il / elle / on | nagerait | he / she / it would swimon: we would swim / one would swim | |
| nous | nagerions | we would swim | |
| vous | nageriez | you would swim | |
| ils / elles | nageraient | they would swim |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul nagerait près du bord.
Paul would swim near the edge.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nage | (that) I swim | |
| tu | nages | (that) you swim | |
| il / elle / on | nage | (that) he / she / it swimson: (that) we swim / one swims | |
| nous | nagions | (that) we swim | |
| vous | nagiez | (that) you swim | |
| ils / elles | nagent | (that) they swim |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul nage près du bord.
It is possible that Paul swims near the edge.
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 swim
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