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 plant.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plante | I plant | |
| tu | plantes | you plant | |
| il / elle / on | plante | he / she / it plantson: we plant / one plants | |
| nous | plantons | we plant | |
| vous | plantez | you plant | |
| ils / elles | plantent | they plant |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul plante un pommier dans le jardin.
Paul plants an apple tree in the garden.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai planté | I planted | |
| tu | as planté | you planted | |
| il / elle / on | a planté | he / she / it plantedon: we planted / one planted | |
| nous | avons planté | we planted | |
| vous | avez planté | you planted | |
| ils / elles | ont planté | they planted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a planté un pommier dans le jardin.
Yesterday, Paul planted an apple tree 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’ | plantais | I used to plant | |
| tu | plantais | you used to plant | |
| il / elle / on | plantait | he / she / it used to planton: we used to plant / one used to plant | |
| nous | plantions | we used to plant | |
| vous | plantiez | you used to plant | |
| ils / elles | plantaient | they used to plant |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul plantait un pommier dans le jardin.
Back then, Paul used to plant an apple tree in the garden.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | planterai | I will plant | |
| tu | planteras | you will plant | |
| il / elle / on | plantera | he / she / it will planton: we will plant / one will plant | |
| nous | planterons | we will plant | |
| vous | planterez | you will plant | |
| ils / elles | planteront | they will plant |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul plantera un pommier dans le jardin.
Later, Paul will plant an apple tree in the garden.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | planterais | I would plant | |
| tu | planterais | you would plant | |
| il / elle / on | planterait | he / she / it would planton: we would plant / one would plant | |
| nous | planterions | we would plant | |
| vous | planteriez | you would plant | |
| ils / elles | planteraient | they would plant |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul planterait un pommier dans le jardin.
Paul would plant an apple tree in the garden.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plante | (that) I plant | |
| tu | plantes | (that) you plant | |
| il / elle / on | plante | (that) he / she / it plantson: (that) we plant / one plants | |
| nous | plantions | (that) we plant | |
| vous | plantiez | (that) you plant | |
| ils / elles | plantent | (that) they plant |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul plante un pommier dans le jardin.
It is possible that Paul plants an apple tree 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 plant
- to drive in (a nail, stake etc.)
- to pitch (a tent)
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