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 carry.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | porte | I carry | |
| tu | portes | you carry | |
| il / elle / on | porte | he / she / it carrieson: we carry / one carries | |
| nous | portons | we carry | |
| vous | portez | you carry | |
| ils / elles | portent | they carry |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul porte les sacs jusqu'à la voiture.
Paul carries the bags to the car.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai porté | I carried | |
| tu | as porté | you carried | |
| il / elle / on | a porté | he / she / it carriedon: we carried / one carried | |
| nous | avons porté | we carried | |
| vous | avez porté | you carried | |
| ils / elles | ont porté | they carried |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a porté les sacs jusqu'à la voiture.
Yesterday, Paul carried the bags to the car.
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’ | portais | I used to carry | |
| tu | portais | you used to carry | |
| il / elle / on | portait | he / she / it used to carryon: we used to carry / one used to carry | |
| nous | portions | we used to carry | |
| vous | portiez | you used to carry | |
| ils / elles | portaient | they used to carry |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul portait les sacs jusqu'à la voiture.
Back then, Paul used to carry the bags to the car.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | porterai | I will carry | |
| tu | porteras | you will carry | |
| il / elle / on | portera | he / she / it will carryon: we will carry / one will carry | |
| nous | porterons | we will carry | |
| vous | porterez | you will carry | |
| ils / elles | porteront | they will carry |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul portera les sacs jusqu'à la voiture.
Later, Paul will carry the bags to the car.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | porterais | I would carry | |
| tu | porterais | you would carry | |
| il / elle / on | porterait | he / she / it would carryon: we would carry / one would carry | |
| nous | porterions | we would carry | |
| vous | porteriez | you would carry | |
| ils / elles | porteraient | they would carry |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul porterait les sacs jusqu'à la voiture.
Paul would carry the bags to the car.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | porte | (that) I carry | |
| tu | portes | (that) you carry | |
| il / elle / on | porte | (that) he / she / it carrieson: (that) we carry / one carries | |
| nous | portions | (that) we carry | |
| vous | portiez | (that) you carry | |
| ils / elles | portent | (that) they carry |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul porte les sacs jusqu'à la voiture.
It is possible that Paul carries the bags to the car.
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 carry
- to support, to bear
- to wear
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