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 own.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | possède | I own | |
| tu | possèdes | you own | |
| il / elle / on | possède | he / she / it ownson: we own / one owns | |
| nous | possédons | we own | |
| vous | possédez | you own | |
| ils / elles | possèdent | they own |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul possède une petite maison près du lac.
Paul owns a small house near the lake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai possédé | I owned | |
| tu | as possédé | you owned | |
| il / elle / on | a possédé | he / she / it ownedon: we owned / one owned | |
| nous | avons possédé | we owned | |
| vous | avez possédé | you owned | |
| ils / elles | ont possédé | they owned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a possédé une petite maison près du lac.
Yesterday, Paul owned a small house near the lake.
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’ | possédais | I used to own | |
| tu | possédais | you used to own | |
| il / elle / on | possédait | he / she / it used to ownon: we used to own / one used to own | |
| nous | possédions | we used to own | |
| vous | possédiez | you used to own | |
| ils / elles | possédaient | they used to own |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul possédait une petite maison près du lac.
Back then, Paul used to own a small house near the lake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | possèderai / posséderai | I will own | |
| tu | possèderas / posséderas | you will own | |
| il / elle / on | possèdera / possédera | he / she / it will ownon: we will own / one will own | |
| nous | possèderons / posséderons | we will own | |
| vous | possèderez / posséderez | you will own | |
| ils / elles | possèderont / posséderont | they will own |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul possèdera une petite maison près du lac.
Later, Paul will own a small house near the lake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | possèderais / posséderais | I would own | |
| tu | possèderais / posséderais | you would own | |
| il / elle / on | possèderait / posséderait | he / she / it would ownon: we would own / one would own | |
| nous | possèderions / posséderions | we would own | |
| vous | possèderiez / posséderiez | you would own | |
| ils / elles | possèderaient / posséderaient | they would own |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul possèderait une petite maison près du lac.
Paul would own a small house near the lake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | possède | (that) I own | |
| tu | possèdes | (that) you own | |
| il / elle / on | possède | (that) he / she / it ownson: (that) we own / one owns | |
| nous | possédions | (that) we own | |
| vous | possédiez | (that) you own | |
| ils / elles | possèdent | (that) they own |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul possède une petite maison près du lac.
It is possible that Paul owns a small house near the lake.
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 own; to possess
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