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 fish.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pêche | I fish | |
| tu | pêches | you fish | |
| il / elle / on | pêche | he / she / it fisheson: we fish / one fishes | |
| nous | pêchons | we fish | |
| vous | pêchez | you fish | |
| ils / elles | pêchent | they fish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pêche au bord du lac.
Paul fishes beside the lake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pêché | I fished | |
| tu | as pêché | you fished | |
| il / elle / on | a pêché | he / she / it fishedon: we fished / one fished | |
| nous | avons pêché | we fished | |
| vous | avez pêché | you fished | |
| ils / elles | ont pêché | they fished |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pêché au bord du lac.
Yesterday, Paul fished beside the lake.
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’ | pêchais | I used to fish | |
| tu | pêchais | you used to fish | |
| il / elle / on | pêchait | he / she / it used to fishon: we used to fish / one used to fish | |
| nous | pêchions | we used to fish | |
| vous | pêchiez | you used to fish | |
| ils / elles | pêchaient | they used to fish |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pêchait au bord du lac.
Back then, Paul used to fish beside the lake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pêcherai | I will fish | |
| tu | pêcheras | you will fish | |
| il / elle / on | pêchera | he / she / it will fishon: we will fish / one will fish | |
| nous | pêcherons | we will fish | |
| vous | pêcherez | you will fish | |
| ils / elles | pêcheront | they will fish |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pêchera au bord du lac.
Later, Paul will fish beside the lake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pêcherais | I would fish | |
| tu | pêcherais | you would fish | |
| il / elle / on | pêcherait | he / she / it would fishon: we would fish / one would fish | |
| nous | pêcherions | we would fish | |
| vous | pêcheriez | you would fish | |
| ils / elles | pêcheraient | they would fish |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul pêcherait au bord du lac.
Paul would fish beside the lake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pêche | (that) I fish | |
| tu | pêches | (that) you fish | |
| il / elle / on | pêche | (that) he / she / it fisheson: (that) we fish / one fishes | |
| nous | pêchions | (that) we fish | |
| vous | pêchiez | (that) you fish | |
| ils / elles | pêchent | (that) they fish |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pêche au bord du lac.
It is possible that Paul fishes beside the lake.
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 fish
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