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 tilt.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | penche | I tilt | |
| tu | penches | you tilt | |
| il / elle / on | penche | he / she / it tiltson: we tilt / one tilts | |
| nous | penchons | we tilt | |
| vous | penchez | you tilt | |
| ils / elles | penchent | they tilt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul penche la tête vers la droite.
Paul tilts his head to the right.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai penché | I tilted | |
| tu | as penché | you tilted | |
| il / elle / on | a penché | he / she / it tiltedon: we tilted / one tilted | |
| nous | avons penché | we tilted | |
| vous | avez penché | you tilted | |
| ils / elles | ont penché | they tilted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a penché la tête vers la droite.
Yesterday, Paul tilted his head to the right.
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’ | penchais | I used to tilt | |
| tu | penchais | you used to tilt | |
| il / elle / on | penchait | he / she / it used to tilton: we used to tilt / one used to tilt | |
| nous | penchions | we used to tilt | |
| vous | penchiez | you used to tilt | |
| ils / elles | penchaient | they used to tilt |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul penchait la tête vers la droite.
Back then, Paul used to tilt his head to the right.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pencherai | I will tilt | |
| tu | pencheras | you will tilt | |
| il / elle / on | penchera | he / she / it will tilton: we will tilt / one will tilt | |
| nous | pencherons | we will tilt | |
| vous | pencherez | you will tilt | |
| ils / elles | pencheront | they will tilt |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul penchera la tête vers la droite.
Later, Paul will tilt his head to the right.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pencherais | I would tilt | |
| tu | pencherais | you would tilt | |
| il / elle / on | pencherait | he / she / it would tilton: we would tilt / one would tilt | |
| nous | pencherions | we would tilt | |
| vous | pencheriez | you would tilt | |
| ils / elles | pencheraient | they would tilt |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul pencherait la tête vers la droite.
Paul would tilt his head to the right.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | penche | (that) I tilt | |
| tu | penches | (that) you tilt | |
| il / elle / on | penche | (that) he / she / it tiltson: (that) we tilt / one tilts | |
| nous | penchions | (that) we tilt | |
| vous | penchiez | (that) you tilt | |
| ils / elles | penchent | (that) they tilt |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul penche la tête vers la droite.
It is possible that Paul tilts his head to the right.
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 tilt, tip up
- to lean, list
- to lean towards (an opinion, idea etc.); to be inclined (to do something)
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