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 work.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | planche | I work | |
| tu | planches | you work | |
| il / elle / on | planche | he / she / it workson: we work / one works | |
| nous | planchons | we work | |
| vous | planchez | you work | |
| ils / elles | planchent | they work |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul planche sur un problème de maths.
Paul works on a maths problem.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai planché | I worked | |
| tu | as planché | you worked | |
| il / elle / on | a planché | he / she / it workedon: we worked / one worked | |
| nous | avons planché | we worked | |
| vous | avez planché | you worked | |
| ils / elles | ont planché | they worked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a planché sur un problème de maths.
Yesterday, Paul worked on a maths problem.
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’ | planchais | I used to work | |
| tu | planchais | you used to work | |
| il / elle / on | planchait | he / she / it used to workon: we used to work / one used to work | |
| nous | planchions | we used to work | |
| vous | planchiez | you used to work | |
| ils / elles | planchaient | they used to work |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul planchait sur un problème de maths.
Back then, Paul used to work on a maths problem.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plancherai | I will work | |
| tu | plancheras | you will work | |
| il / elle / on | planchera | he / she / it will workon: we will work / one will work | |
| nous | plancherons | we will work | |
| vous | plancherez | you will work | |
| ils / elles | plancheront | they will work |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul planchera sur un problème de maths.
Later, Paul will work on a maths problem.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plancherais | I would work | |
| tu | plancherais | you would work | |
| il / elle / on | plancherait | he / she / it would workon: we would work / one would work | |
| nous | plancherions | we would work | |
| vous | plancheriez | you would work | |
| ils / elles | plancheraient | they would work |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul plancherait sur un problème de maths.
Paul would work on a maths problem.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | planche | (that) I work | |
| tu | planches | (that) you work | |
| il / elle / on | planche | (that) he / she / it workson: (that) we work / one works | |
| nous | planchions | (that) we work | |
| vous | planchiez | (that) you work | |
| ils / elles | planchent | (that) they work |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul planche sur un problème de maths.
It is possible that Paul works on a maths problem.
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.”
Plancher sur is an informal expression meaning work hard on or study a problem.
Meaning & usage
- to study something thoroughly, to work hard on something, to brainstorm
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