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 think.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pense | I think | |
| tu | penses | you think | |
| il / elle / on | pense | he / she / it thinkson: we think / one thinks | |
| nous | pensons | we think | |
| vous | pensez | you think | |
| ils / elles | pensent | they think |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pense à son prochain voyage.
Paul thinks about his next trip.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pensé | I thought | |
| tu | as pensé | you thought | |
| il / elle / on | a pensé | he / she / it thoughton: we thought / one thought | |
| nous | avons pensé | we thought | |
| vous | avez pensé | you thought | |
| ils / elles | ont pensé | they thought |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pensé à son prochain voyage.
Yesterday, Paul thought about his next trip.
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’ | pensais | I used to think | |
| tu | pensais | you used to think | |
| il / elle / on | pensait | he / she / it used to thinkon: we used to think / one used to think | |
| nous | pensions | we used to think | |
| vous | pensiez | you used to think | |
| ils / elles | pensaient | they used to think |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pensait à son prochain voyage.
Back then, Paul used to think about his next trip.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | penserai | I will think | |
| tu | penseras | you will think | |
| il / elle / on | pensera | he / she / it will thinkon: we will think / one will think | |
| nous | penserons | we will think | |
| vous | penserez | you will think | |
| ils / elles | penseront | they will think |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pensera à son prochain voyage.
Later, Paul will think about his next trip.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | penserais | I would think | |
| tu | penserais | you would think | |
| il / elle / on | penserait | he / she / it would thinkon: we would think / one would think | |
| nous | penserions | we would think | |
| vous | penseriez | you would think | |
| ils / elles | penseraient | they would think |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul penserait à son prochain voyage.
Paul would think about his next trip.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pense | (that) I think | |
| tu | penses | (that) you think | |
| il / elle / on | pense | (that) he / she / it thinkson: (that) we think / one thinks | |
| nous | pensions | (that) we think | |
| vous | pensiez | (that) you think | |
| ils / elles | pensent | (that) they think |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pense à son prochain voyage.
It is possible that Paul thinks about his next trip.
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 think, reflect, concentrate one's mind on something
- to think, imagine, believe
- to be of the opinion that, believe
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