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 lose.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | perds | I lose | |
| tu | perds | you lose | |
| il / elle / on | perd | he / she / it loseson: we lose / one loses | |
| nous | perdons | we lose | |
| vous | perdez | you lose | |
| ils / elles | perdent | they lose |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul perd ses clés.
Paul loses his keys.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai perdu | I lost | |
| tu | as perdu | you lost | |
| il / elle / on | a perdu | he / she / it loston: we lost / one lost | |
| nous | avons perdu | we lost | |
| vous | avez perdu | you lost | |
| ils / elles | ont perdu | they lost |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a perdu ses clés.
Yesterday, Paul lost his keys.
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’ | perdais | I used to lose | |
| tu | perdais | you used to lose | |
| il / elle / on | perdait | he / she / it used to loseon: we used to lose / one used to lose | |
| nous | perdions | we used to lose | |
| vous | perdiez | you used to lose | |
| ils / elles | perdaient | they used to lose |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul perdait ses clés.
Back then, Paul used to lose his keys.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | perdrai | I will lose | |
| tu | perdras | you will lose | |
| il / elle / on | perdra | he / she / it will loseon: we will lose / one will lose | |
| nous | perdrons | we will lose | |
| vous | perdrez | you will lose | |
| ils / elles | perdront | they will lose |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul perdra ses clés.
Later, Paul will lose his keys.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | perdrais | I would lose | |
| tu | perdrais | you would lose | |
| il / elle / on | perdrait | he / she / it would loseon: we would lose / one would lose | |
| nous | perdrions | we would lose | |
| vous | perdriez | you would lose | |
| ils / elles | perdraient | they would lose |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul perdrait ses clés.
Paul would lose his keys.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | perde | (that) I lose | |
| tu | perdes | (that) you lose | |
| il / elle / on | perde | (that) he / she / it loseson: (that) we lose / one loses | |
| nous | perdions | (that) we lose | |
| vous | perdiez | (that) you lose | |
| ils / elles | perdent | (that) they lose |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul perde ses clés.
It is possible that Paul loses his keys.
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 lose (be unable to find)
- to lose (not win)
- to waste, to make bad use of 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