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 dare.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ose | I dare | |
| tu | oses | you dare | |
| il / elle / on | ose | he / she / it dareson: we dare / one dares | |
| nous | osons | we dare | |
| vous | osez | you dare | |
| ils / elles | osent | they dare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ose poser une question pendant la réunion.
Paul dares to ask a question during the meeting.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai osé | I dared | |
| tu | as osé | you dared | |
| il / elle / on | a osé | he / she / it daredon: we dared / one dared | |
| nous | avons osé | we dared | |
| vous | avez osé | you dared | |
| ils / elles | ont osé | they dared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a osé poser une question pendant la réunion.
Yesterday, Paul dared to ask a question during the meeting.
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’ | osais | I used to dare | |
| tu | osais | you used to dare | |
| il / elle / on | osait | he / she / it used to dareon: we used to dare / one used to dare | |
| nous | osions | we used to dare | |
| vous | osiez | you used to dare | |
| ils / elles | osaient | they used to dare |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul osait poser une question pendant la réunion.
Back then, Paul used to dare to ask a question during the meeting.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | oserai | I will dare | |
| tu | oseras | you will dare | |
| il / elle / on | osera | he / she / it will dareon: we will dare / one will dare | |
| nous | oserons | we will dare | |
| vous | oserez | you will dare | |
| ils / elles | oseront | they will dare |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul osera poser une question pendant la réunion.
Later, Paul will dare to ask a question during the meeting.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | oserais | I would dare | |
| tu | oserais | you would dare | |
| il / elle / on | oserait | he / she / it would dareon: we would dare / one would dare | |
| nous | oserions | we would dare | |
| vous | oseriez | you would dare | |
| ils / elles | oseraient | they would dare |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul oserait poser une question pendant la réunion.
Paul would dare to ask a question during the meeting.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ose | (that) I dare | |
| tu | oses | (that) you dare | |
| il / elle / on | ose | (that) he / she / it dareson: (that) we dare / one dares | |
| nous | osions | (that) we dare | |
| vous | osiez | (that) you dare | |
| ils / elles | osent | (that) they dare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul ose poser une question pendant la réunion.
It is possible that Paul dares to ask a question during the meeting.
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 dare
- to be allowed to
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