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 forgive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pardonne | I forgive | |
| tu | pardonnes | you forgive | |
| il / elle / on | pardonne | he / she / it forgiveson: we forgive / one forgives | |
| nous | pardonnons | we forgive | |
| vous | pardonnez | you forgive | |
| ils / elles | pardonnent | they forgive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pardonne cette erreur à son ami.
Paul forgives his friend for this mistake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pardonné | I forgave | |
| tu | as pardonné | you forgave | |
| il / elle / on | a pardonné | he / she / it forgaveon: we forgave / one forgave | |
| nous | avons pardonné | we forgave | |
| vous | avez pardonné | you forgave | |
| ils / elles | ont pardonné | they forgave |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pardonné cette erreur à son ami.
Yesterday, Paul forgave his friend for this mistake.
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’ | pardonnais | I used to forgive | |
| tu | pardonnais | you used to forgive | |
| il / elle / on | pardonnait | he / she / it used to forgiveon: we used to forgive / one used to forgive | |
| nous | pardonnions | we used to forgive | |
| vous | pardonniez | you used to forgive | |
| ils / elles | pardonnaient | they used to forgive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pardonnait cette erreur à son ami.
Back then, Paul used to forgive his friend for this mistake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pardonnerai | I will forgive | |
| tu | pardonneras | you will forgive | |
| il / elle / on | pardonnera | he / she / it will forgiveon: we will forgive / one will forgive | |
| nous | pardonnerons | we will forgive | |
| vous | pardonnerez | you will forgive | |
| ils / elles | pardonneront | they will forgive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pardonnera cette erreur à son ami.
Later, Paul will forgive his friend for this mistake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pardonnerais | I would forgive | |
| tu | pardonnerais | you would forgive | |
| il / elle / on | pardonnerait | he / she / it would forgiveon: we would forgive / one would forgive | |
| nous | pardonnerions | we would forgive | |
| vous | pardonneriez | you would forgive | |
| ils / elles | pardonneraient | they would forgive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul pardonnerait cette erreur à son ami.
Paul would forgive his friend for this mistake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pardonne | (that) I forgive | |
| tu | pardonnes | (that) you forgive | |
| il / elle / on | pardonne | (that) he / she / it forgiveson: (that) we forgive / one forgives | |
| nous | pardonnions | (that) we forgive | |
| vous | pardonniez | (that) you forgive | |
| ils / elles | pardonnent | (that) they forgive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pardonne cette erreur à son ami.
It is possible that Paul forgives his friend for this mistake.
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 pardon, forgive
- to excuse
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