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 note down.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | note | I note down | |
| tu | notes | you note down | |
| il / elle / on | note | he / she / it notes downon: we note down / one notes down | |
| nous | notons | we note down | |
| vous | notez | you note down | |
| ils / elles | notent | they note down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul note l'adresse sur un papier.
Paul notes down the address on a piece of paper.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai noté | I noted down | |
| tu | as noté | you noted down | |
| il / elle / on | a noté | he / she / it noted downon: we noted down / one noted down | |
| nous | avons noté | we noted down | |
| vous | avez noté | you noted down | |
| ils / elles | ont noté | they noted down |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a noté l'adresse sur un papier.
Yesterday, Paul noted down the address on a piece of paper.
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’ | notais | I used to note down | |
| tu | notais | you used to note down | |
| il / elle / on | notait | he / she / it used to note downon: we used to note down / one used to note down | |
| nous | notions | we used to note down | |
| vous | notiez | you used to note down | |
| ils / elles | notaient | they used to note down |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul notait l'adresse sur un papier.
Back then, Paul used to note down the address on a piece of paper.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | noterai | I will note down | |
| tu | noteras | you will note down | |
| il / elle / on | notera | he / she / it will note downon: we will note down / one will note down | |
| nous | noterons | we will note down | |
| vous | noterez | you will note down | |
| ils / elles | noteront | they will note down |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul notera l'adresse sur un papier.
Later, Paul will note down the address on a piece of paper.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | noterais | I would note down | |
| tu | noterais | you would note down | |
| il / elle / on | noterait | he / she / it would note downon: we would note down / one would note down | |
| nous | noterions | we would note down | |
| vous | noteriez | you would note down | |
| ils / elles | noteraient | they would note down |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul noterait l'adresse sur un papier.
Paul would note down the address on a piece of paper.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | note | (that) I note down | |
| tu | notes | (that) you note down | |
| il / elle / on | note | (that) he / she / it notes downon: (that) we note down / one notes down | |
| nous | notions | (that) we note down | |
| vous | notiez | (that) you note down | |
| ils / elles | notent | (that) they note down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul note l'adresse sur un papier.
It is possible that Paul notes down the address on a piece of paper.
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 note
- to notice (become aware)
- to grade (an exam, an assignment, etc.)
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