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 practise.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pratique | I practise | |
| tu | pratiques | you practise | |
| il / elle / on | pratique | he / she / it practiseson: we practise / one practises | |
| nous | pratiquons | we practise | |
| vous | pratiquez | you practise | |
| ils / elles | pratiquent | they practise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul pratique le tennis dans ce club.
Paul practises tennis at this club.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pratiqué | I practised | |
| tu | as pratiqué | you practised | |
| il / elle / on | a pratiqué | he / she / it practisedon: we practised / one practised | |
| nous | avons pratiqué | we practised | |
| vous | avez pratiqué | you practised | |
| ils / elles | ont pratiqué | they practised |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pratiqué le tennis dans ce club.
Yesterday, Paul practised tennis at this club.
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’ | pratiquais | I used to practise | |
| tu | pratiquais | you used to practise | |
| il / elle / on | pratiquait | he / she / it used to practiseon: we used to practise / one used to practise | |
| nous | pratiquions | we used to practise | |
| vous | pratiquiez | you used to practise | |
| ils / elles | pratiquaient | they used to practise |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul pratiquait le tennis dans ce club.
Back then, Paul used to practise tennis at this club.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pratiquerai | I will practise | |
| tu | pratiqueras | you will practise | |
| il / elle / on | pratiquera | he / she / it will practiseon: we will practise / one will practise | |
| nous | pratiquerons | we will practise | |
| vous | pratiquerez | you will practise | |
| ils / elles | pratiqueront | they will practise |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul pratiquera le tennis dans ce club.
Later, Paul will practise tennis at this club.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pratiquerais | I would practise | |
| tu | pratiquerais | you would practise | |
| il / elle / on | pratiquerait | he / she / it would practiseon: we would practise / one would practise | |
| nous | pratiquerions | we would practise | |
| vous | pratiqueriez | you would practise | |
| ils / elles | pratiqueraient | they would practise |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul pratiquerait le tennis dans ce club.
Paul would practise tennis at this club.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | pratique | (that) I practise | |
| tu | pratiques | (that) you practise | |
| il / elle / on | pratique | (that) he / she / it practiseson: (that) we practise / one practises | |
| nous | pratiquions | (that) we practise | |
| vous | pratiquiez | (that) you practise | |
| ils / elles | pratiquent | (that) they practise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul pratique le tennis dans ce club.
It is possible that Paul practises tennis at this club.
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 do; to practise
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