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 chase.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | poursuis | I chase | |
| tu | poursuis | you chase | |
| il / elle / on | poursuit | he / she / it chaseson: we chase / one chases | |
| nous | poursuivons | we chase | |
| vous | poursuivez | you chase | |
| ils / elles | poursuivent | they chase |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul poursuit le ballon dans le jardin.
Paul chases the ball through the garden.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai poursuivi | I chased | |
| tu | as poursuivi | you chased | |
| il / elle / on | a poursuivi | he / she / it chasedon: we chased / one chased | |
| nous | avons poursuivi | we chased | |
| vous | avez poursuivi | you chased | |
| ils / elles | ont poursuivi | they chased |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a poursuivi le ballon dans le jardin.
Yesterday, Paul chased the ball through 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’ | poursuivais | I used to chase | |
| tu | poursuivais | you used to chase | |
| il / elle / on | poursuivait | he / she / it used to chaseon: we used to chase / one used to chase | |
| nous | poursuivions | we used to chase | |
| vous | poursuiviez | you used to chase | |
| ils / elles | poursuivaient | they used to chase |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul poursuivait le ballon dans le jardin.
Back then, Paul used to chase the ball through the garden.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | poursuivrai | I will chase | |
| tu | poursuivras | you will chase | |
| il / elle / on | poursuivra | he / she / it will chaseon: we will chase / one will chase | |
| nous | poursuivrons | we will chase | |
| vous | poursuivrez | you will chase | |
| ils / elles | poursuivront | they will chase |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul poursuivra le ballon dans le jardin.
Later, Paul will chase the ball through the garden.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | poursuivrais | I would chase | |
| tu | poursuivrais | you would chase | |
| il / elle / on | poursuivrait | he / she / it would chaseon: we would chase / one would chase | |
| nous | poursuivrions | we would chase | |
| vous | poursuivriez | you would chase | |
| ils / elles | poursuivraient | they would chase |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul poursuivrait le ballon dans le jardin.
Paul would chase the ball through the garden.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | poursuive | (that) I chase | |
| tu | poursuives | (that) you chase | |
| il / elle / on | poursuive | (that) he / she / it chaseson: (that) we chase / one chases | |
| nous | poursuivions | (that) we chase | |
| vous | poursuiviez | (that) you chase | |
| ils / elles | poursuivent | (that) they chase |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul poursuive le ballon dans le jardin.
It is possible that Paul chases the ball through 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 pursue, to chase
- to pursue, to persecute, to torment
- to carry on, to continue what has been started
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