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 pass.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | passe | I pass | |
| tu | passes | you pass | |
| il / elle / on | passe | he / she / it passeson: we pass / one passes | |
| nous | passons | we pass | |
| vous | passez | you pass | |
| ils / elles | passent | they pass |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul passe devant la gare.
Paul passes in front of the station.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis passé / suis passée | I passed | |
| tu | es passé / es passée | you passed | |
| il / elle / on | est passé / est passée | he / she / it passedon: we passed / one passed | |
| nous | sommes passés / sommes passées | we passed | |
| vous | êtes passé / êtes passée / êtes passés / êtes passées | you passed | |
| ils / elles | sont passés / sont passées | they passed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est passé devant la gare.
Yesterday, Paul passed in front of the station.
The passé composé shown is the intransitive motion use with être. With a direct object, this verb can use avoir; check the meaning in context. With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | passais | I used to pass | |
| tu | passais | you used to pass | |
| il / elle / on | passait | he / she / it used to passon: we used to pass / one used to pass | |
| nous | passions | we used to pass | |
| vous | passiez | you used to pass | |
| ils / elles | passaient | they used to pass |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul passait devant la gare.
Back then, Paul used to pass in front of the station.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | passerai | I will pass | |
| tu | passeras | you will pass | |
| il / elle / on | passera | he / she / it will passon: we will pass / one will pass | |
| nous | passerons | we will pass | |
| vous | passerez | you will pass | |
| ils / elles | passeront | they will pass |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul passera devant la gare.
Later, Paul will pass in front of the station.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | passerais | I would pass | |
| tu | passerais | you would pass | |
| il / elle / on | passerait | he / she / it would passon: we would pass / one would pass | |
| nous | passerions | we would pass | |
| vous | passeriez | you would pass | |
| ils / elles | passeraient | they would pass |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul passerait devant la gare.
Paul would pass in front of the station.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | passe | (that) I pass | |
| tu | passes | (that) you pass | |
| il / elle / on | passe | (that) he / she / it passeson: (that) we pass / one passes | |
| nous | passions | (that) we pass | |
| vous | passiez | (that) you pass | |
| ils / elles | passent | (that) they pass |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul passe devant la gare.
It is possible that Paul passes in front of the station.
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 pass; to go past
- to cross (a border)
- to pass, to go through
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