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 participate.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | participe | I participate | |
| tu | participes | you participate | |
| il / elle / on | participe | he / she / it participateson: we participate / one participates | |
| nous | participons | we participate | |
| vous | participez | you participate | |
| ils / elles | participent | they participate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul participe à un atelier de cuisine.
Paul participates in a cooking workshop.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai participé | I participated | |
| tu | as participé | you participated | |
| il / elle / on | a participé | he / she / it participatedon: we participated / one participated | |
| nous | avons participé | we participated | |
| vous | avez participé | you participated | |
| ils / elles | ont participé | they participated |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a participé à un atelier de cuisine.
Yesterday, Paul participated in a cooking workshop.
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’ | participais | I used to participate | |
| tu | participais | you used to participate | |
| il / elle / on | participait | he / she / it used to participateon: we used to participate / one used to participate | |
| nous | participions | we used to participate | |
| vous | participiez | you used to participate | |
| ils / elles | participaient | they used to participate |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul participait à un atelier de cuisine.
Back then, Paul used to participate in a cooking workshop.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | participerai | I will participate | |
| tu | participeras | you will participate | |
| il / elle / on | participera | he / she / it will participateon: we will participate / one will participate | |
| nous | participerons | we will participate | |
| vous | participerez | you will participate | |
| ils / elles | participeront | they will participate |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul participera à un atelier de cuisine.
Later, Paul will participate in a cooking workshop.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | participerais | I would participate | |
| tu | participerais | you would participate | |
| il / elle / on | participerait | he / she / it would participateon: we would participate / one would participate | |
| nous | participerions | we would participate | |
| vous | participeriez | you would participate | |
| ils / elles | participeraient | they would participate |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul participerait à un atelier de cuisine.
Paul would participate in a cooking workshop.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | participe | (that) I participate | |
| tu | participes | (that) you participate | |
| il / elle / on | participe | (that) he / she / it participateson: (that) we participate / one participates | |
| nous | participions | (that) we participate | |
| vous | participiez | (that) you participate | |
| ils / elles | participent | (that) they participate |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul participe à un atelier de cuisine.
It is possible that Paul participates in a cooking workshop.
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 participate
- to donate
- to share (emotions)
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