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 speak.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | parle | I speak | |
| tu | parles | you speak | |
| il / elle / on | parle | he / she / it speakson: we speak / one speaks | |
| nous | parlons | we speak | |
| vous | parlez | you speak | |
| ils / elles | parlent | they speak |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul parle français avec ses voisins.
Paul speaks French with his neighbors.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai parlé | I spoke | |
| tu | as parlé | you spoke | |
| il / elle / on | a parlé | he / she / it spokeon: we spoke / one spoke | |
| nous | avons parlé | we spoke | |
| vous | avez parlé | you spoke | |
| ils / elles | ont parlé | they spoke |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a parlé français avec ses voisins.
Yesterday, Paul spoke French with his neighbors.
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’ | parlais | I used to speak | |
| tu | parlais | you used to speak | |
| il / elle / on | parlait | he / she / it used to speakon: we used to speak / one used to speak | |
| nous | parlions | we used to speak | |
| vous | parliez | you used to speak | |
| ils / elles | parlaient | they used to speak |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul parlait français avec ses voisins.
Back then, Paul used to speak French with his neighbors.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | parlerai | I will speak | |
| tu | parleras | you will speak | |
| il / elle / on | parlera | he / she / it will speakon: we will speak / one will speak | |
| nous | parlerons | we will speak | |
| vous | parlerez | you will speak | |
| ils / elles | parleront | they will speak |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul parlera français avec ses voisins.
Later, Paul will speak French with his neighbors.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | parlerais | I would speak | |
| tu | parlerais | you would speak | |
| il / elle / on | parlerait | he / she / it would speakon: we would speak / one would speak | |
| nous | parlerions | we would speak | |
| vous | parleriez | you would speak | |
| ils / elles | parleraient | they would speak |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul parlerait français avec ses voisins.
Paul would speak French with his neighbors.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | parle | (that) I speak | |
| tu | parles | (that) you speak | |
| il / elle / on | parle | (that) he / she / it speakson: (that) we speak / one speaks | |
| nous | parlions | (that) we speak | |
| vous | parliez | (that) you speak | |
| ils / elles | parlent | (that) they speak |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul parle français avec ses voisins.
It is possible that Paul speaks French with his neighbors.
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 speak, talk
- to be able to communicate in a language; to speak
- to cant; (of a coat of arms) to make a pun of its bearer's name
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