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 get.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obtiens | I get | |
| tu | obtiens | you get | |
| il / elle / on | obtient | he / she / it getson: we get / one gets | |
| nous | obtenons | we get | |
| vous | obtenez | you get | |
| ils / elles | obtiennent | they get |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul obtient une réponse à sa question.
Paul gets an answer to his question.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai obtenu | I got | |
| tu | as obtenu | you got | |
| il / elle / on | a obtenu | he / she / it goton: we got / one got | |
| nous | avons obtenu | we got | |
| vous | avez obtenu | you got | |
| ils / elles | ont obtenu | they got |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a obtenu une réponse à sa question.
Yesterday, Paul got an answer to his question.
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’ | obtenais | I used to get | |
| tu | obtenais | you used to get | |
| il / elle / on | obtenait | he / she / it used to geton: we used to get / one used to get | |
| nous | obtenions | we used to get | |
| vous | obteniez | you used to get | |
| ils / elles | obtenaient | they used to get |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul obtenait une réponse à sa question.
Back then, Paul used to get an answer to his question.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obtiendrai | I will get | |
| tu | obtiendras | you will get | |
| il / elle / on | obtiendra | he / she / it will geton: we will get / one will get | |
| nous | obtiendrons | we will get | |
| vous | obtiendrez | you will get | |
| ils / elles | obtiendront | they will get |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul obtiendra une réponse à sa question.
Later, Paul will get an answer to his question.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obtiendrais | I would get | |
| tu | obtiendrais | you would get | |
| il / elle / on | obtiendrait | he / she / it would geton: we would get / one would get | |
| nous | obtiendrions | we would get | |
| vous | obtiendriez | you would get | |
| ils / elles | obtiendraient | they would get |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul obtiendrait une réponse à sa question.
Paul would get an answer to his question.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | obtienne | (that) I get | |
| tu | obtiennes | (that) you get | |
| il / elle / on | obtienne | (that) he / she / it getson: (that) we get / one gets | |
| nous | obtenions | (that) we get | |
| vous | obteniez | (that) you get | |
| ils / elles | obtiennent | (that) they get |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul obtienne une réponse à sa question.
It is possible that Paul gets an answer to his question.
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 get, to obtain
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