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 arrange.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ordonne | I arrange | |
| tu | ordonnes | you arrange | |
| il / elle / on | ordonne | he / she / it arrangeson: we arrange / one arranges | |
| nous | ordonnons | we arrange | |
| vous | ordonnez | you arrange | |
| ils / elles | ordonnent | they arrange |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ordonne ses livres par taille.
Paul arranges his books by size.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai ordonné | I arranged | |
| tu | as ordonné | you arranged | |
| il / elle / on | a ordonné | he / she / it arrangedon: we arranged / one arranged | |
| nous | avons ordonné | we arranged | |
| vous | avez ordonné | you arranged | |
| ils / elles | ont ordonné | they arranged |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a ordonné ses livres par taille.
Yesterday, Paul arranged his books by size.
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’ | ordonnais | I used to arrange | |
| tu | ordonnais | you used to arrange | |
| il / elle / on | ordonnait | he / she / it used to arrangeon: we used to arrange / one used to arrange | |
| nous | ordonnions | we used to arrange | |
| vous | ordonniez | you used to arrange | |
| ils / elles | ordonnaient | they used to arrange |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul ordonnait ses livres par taille.
Back then, Paul used to arrange his books by size.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ordonnerai | I will arrange | |
| tu | ordonneras | you will arrange | |
| il / elle / on | ordonnera | he / she / it will arrangeon: we will arrange / one will arrange | |
| nous | ordonnerons | we will arrange | |
| vous | ordonnerez | you will arrange | |
| ils / elles | ordonneront | they will arrange |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul ordonnera ses livres par taille.
Later, Paul will arrange his books by size.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ordonnerais | I would arrange | |
| tu | ordonnerais | you would arrange | |
| il / elle / on | ordonnerait | he / she / it would arrangeon: we would arrange / one would arrange | |
| nous | ordonnerions | we would arrange | |
| vous | ordonneriez | you would arrange | |
| ils / elles | ordonneraient | they would arrange |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul ordonnerait ses livres par taille.
Paul would arrange his books by size.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ordonne | (that) I arrange | |
| tu | ordonnes | (that) you arrange | |
| il / elle / on | ordonne | (that) he / she / it arrangeson: (that) we arrange / one arranges | |
| nous | ordonnions | (that) we arrange | |
| vous | ordonniez | (that) you arrange | |
| ils / elles | ordonnent | (that) they arrange |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul ordonne ses livres par taille.
It is possible that Paul arranges his books by size.
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 order; to arrange
- to arrange, to organise, sort out (put in order)
- to prescribe (e.g. medicine)
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