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 allow.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | permets | I allow | |
| tu | permets | you allow | |
| il / elle / on | permet | he / she / it allowson: we allow / one allows | |
| nous | permettons | we allow | |
| vous | permettez | you allow | |
| ils / elles | permettent | they allow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul permet aux enfants de jouer dans le jardin.
Paul allows the children to play in the garden.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai permis | I allowed | |
| tu | as permis | you allowed | |
| il / elle / on | a permis | he / she / it allowedon: we allowed / one allowed | |
| nous | avons permis | we allowed | |
| vous | avez permis | you allowed | |
| ils / elles | ont permis | they allowed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a permis aux enfants de jouer dans le jardin.
Yesterday, Paul allowed the children to play in the garden.
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’ | permettais | I used to allow | |
| tu | permettais | you used to allow | |
| il / elle / on | permettait | he / she / it used to allowon: we used to allow / one used to allow | |
| nous | permettions | we used to allow | |
| vous | permettiez | you used to allow | |
| ils / elles | permettaient | they used to allow |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul permettait aux enfants de jouer dans le jardin.
Back then, Paul used to allow the children to play in the garden.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | permettrai | I will allow | |
| tu | permettras | you will allow | |
| il / elle / on | permettra | he / she / it will allowon: we will allow / one will allow | |
| nous | permettrons | we will allow | |
| vous | permettrez | you will allow | |
| ils / elles | permettront | they will allow |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul permettra aux enfants de jouer dans le jardin.
Later, Paul will allow the children to play in the garden.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | permettrais | I would allow | |
| tu | permettrais | you would allow | |
| il / elle / on | permettrait | he / she / it would allowon: we would allow / one would allow | |
| nous | permettrions | we would allow | |
| vous | permettriez | you would allow | |
| ils / elles | permettraient | they would allow |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul permettrait aux enfants de jouer dans le jardin.
Paul would allow the children to play in the garden.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | permette | (that) I allow | |
| tu | permettes | (that) you allow | |
| il / elle / on | permette | (that) he / she / it allowson: (that) we allow / one allows | |
| nous | permettions | (that) we allow | |
| vous | permettiez | (that) you allow | |
| ils / elles | permettent | (that) they allow |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul permette aux enfants de jouer dans le jardin.
It is possible that Paul allows the children to play in the garden.
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 permit, to allow (to grant permission or access)
- to allow, to enable (to provide the means, opportunity, etc.)
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