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 dive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plonge | I dive | |
| tu | plonges | you dive | |
| il / elle / on | plonge | he / she / it diveson: we dive / one dives | |
| nous | plongeons | we dive | |
| vous | plongez | you dive | |
| ils / elles | plongent | they dive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul plonge dans la piscine.
Paul dives into the swimming pool.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai plongé | I dived | |
| tu | as plongé | you dived | |
| il / elle / on | a plongé | he / she / it divedon: we dived / one dived | |
| nous | avons plongé | we dived | |
| vous | avez plongé | you dived | |
| ils / elles | ont plongé | they dived |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a plongé dans la piscine.
Yesterday, Paul dived into the swimming pool.
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’ | plongeais | I used to dive | |
| tu | plongeais | you used to dive | |
| il / elle / on | plongeait | he / she / it used to diveon: we used to dive / one used to dive | |
| nous | plongions | we used to dive | |
| vous | plongiez | you used to dive | |
| ils / elles | plongeaient | they used to dive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul plongeait dans la piscine.
Back then, Paul used to dive into the swimming pool.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plongerai | I will dive | |
| tu | plongeras | you will dive | |
| il / elle / on | plongera | he / she / it will diveon: we will dive / one will dive | |
| nous | plongerons | we will dive | |
| vous | plongerez | you will dive | |
| ils / elles | plongeront | they will dive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul plongera dans la piscine.
Later, Paul will dive into the swimming pool.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plongerais | I would dive | |
| tu | plongerais | you would dive | |
| il / elle / on | plongerait | he / she / it would diveon: we would dive / one would dive | |
| nous | plongerions | we would dive | |
| vous | plongeriez | you would dive | |
| ils / elles | plongeraient | they would dive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul plongerait dans la piscine.
Paul would dive into the swimming pool.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | plonge | (that) I dive | |
| tu | plonges | (that) you dive | |
| il / elle / on | plonge | (that) he / she / it diveson: (that) we dive / one dives | |
| nous | plongions | (that) we dive | |
| vous | plongiez | (that) you dive | |
| ils / elles | plongent | (that) they dive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul plonge dans la piscine.
It is possible that Paul dives into the swimming pool.
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 dive
- to plunge
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