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 pity.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plains | I pity | |
| tu | plains | you pity | |
| il / elle / on | plaint | he / she / it pitieson: we pity / one pities | |
| nous | plaignons | we pity | |
| vous | plaignez | you pity | |
| ils / elles | plaignent | they pity |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul plaint son ami malade.
Paul pities his sick friend.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai plaint | I pitied | |
| tu | as plaint | you pitied | |
| il / elle / on | a plaint | he / she / it pitiedon: we pitied / one pitied | |
| nous | avons plaint | we pitied | |
| vous | avez plaint | you pitied | |
| ils / elles | ont plaint | they pitied |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a plaint son ami malade.
Yesterday, Paul pitied his sick friend.
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’ | plaignais | I used to pity | |
| tu | plaignais | you used to pity | |
| il / elle / on | plaignait | he / she / it used to pityon: we used to pity / one used to pity | |
| nous | plaignions | we used to pity | |
| vous | plaigniez | you used to pity | |
| ils / elles | plaignaient | they used to pity |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul plaignait son ami malade.
Back then, Paul used to pity his sick friend.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plaindrai | I will pity | |
| tu | plaindras | you will pity | |
| il / elle / on | plaindra | he / she / it will pityon: we will pity / one will pity | |
| nous | plaindrons | we will pity | |
| vous | plaindrez | you will pity | |
| ils / elles | plaindront | they will pity |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul plaindra son ami malade.
Later, Paul will pity his sick friend.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plaindrais | I would pity | |
| tu | plaindrais | you would pity | |
| il / elle / on | plaindrait | he / she / it would pityon: we would pity / one would pity | |
| nous | plaindrions | we would pity | |
| vous | plaindriez | you would pity | |
| ils / elles | plaindraient | they would pity |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul plaindrait son ami malade.
Paul would pity his sick friend.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plaigne | (that) I pity | |
| tu | plaignes | (that) you pity | |
| il / elle / on | plaigne | (that) he / she / it pitieson: (that) we pity / one pities | |
| nous | plaignions | (that) we pity | |
| vous | plaigniez | (that) you pity | |
| ils / elles | plaignent | (that) they pity |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul plaigne son ami malade.
It is possible that Paul pities his sick friend.
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 pity
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