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 wait patiently.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | patiente | I wait patiently | |
| tu | patientes | you wait patiently | |
| il / elle / on | patiente | he / she / it waits patientlyon: we wait patiently / one waits patiently | |
| nous | patientons | we wait patiently | |
| vous | patientez | you wait patiently | |
| ils / elles | patientent | they wait patiently |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul patiente devant le guichet.
Paul waits patiently in front of the ticket counter.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai patienté | I waited patiently | |
| tu | as patienté | you waited patiently | |
| il / elle / on | a patienté | he / she / it waited patientlyon: we waited patiently / one waited patiently | |
| nous | avons patienté | we waited patiently | |
| vous | avez patienté | you waited patiently | |
| ils / elles | ont patienté | they waited patiently |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a patienté devant le guichet.
Yesterday, Paul waited patiently in front of the ticket counter.
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’ | patientais | I used to wait patiently | |
| tu | patientais | you used to wait patiently | |
| il / elle / on | patientait | he / she / it used to wait patientlyon: we used to wait patiently / one used to wait patiently | |
| nous | patientions | we used to wait patiently | |
| vous | patientiez | you used to wait patiently | |
| ils / elles | patientaient | they used to wait patiently |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul patientait devant le guichet.
Back then, Paul used to wait patiently in front of the ticket counter.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | patienterai | I will wait patiently | |
| tu | patienteras | you will wait patiently | |
| il / elle / on | patientera | he / she / it will wait patientlyon: we will wait patiently / one will wait patiently | |
| nous | patienterons | we will wait patiently | |
| vous | patienterez | you will wait patiently | |
| ils / elles | patienteront | they will wait patiently |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul patientera devant le guichet.
Later, Paul will wait patiently in front of the ticket counter.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | patienterais | I would wait patiently | |
| tu | patienterais | you would wait patiently | |
| il / elle / on | patienterait | he / she / it would wait patientlyon: we would wait patiently / one would wait patiently | |
| nous | patienterions | we would wait patiently | |
| vous | patienteriez | you would wait patiently | |
| ils / elles | patienteraient | they would wait patiently |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul patienterait devant le guichet.
Paul would wait patiently in front of the ticket counter.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | patiente | (that) I wait patiently | |
| tu | patientes | (that) you wait patiently | |
| il / elle / on | patiente | (that) he / she / it waits patientlyon: (that) we wait patiently / one waits patiently | |
| nous | patientions | (that) we wait patiently | |
| vous | patientiez | (that) you wait patiently | |
| ils / elles | patientent | (that) they wait patiently |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul patiente devant le guichet.
It is possible that Paul waits patiently in front of the ticket counter.
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 be patient
- to wait patiently
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