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 take.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prends | I take | |
| tu | prends | you take | |
| il / elle / on | prend | he / she / it takeson: we take / one takes | |
| nous | prenons | we take | |
| vous | prenez | you take | |
| ils / elles | prennent | they take |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul prend le train pour Lyon.
Paul takes the train to Lyon.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai pris | I took | |
| tu | as pris | you took | |
| il / elle / on | a pris | he / she / it tookon: we took / one took | |
| nous | avons pris | we took | |
| vous | avez pris | you took | |
| ils / elles | ont pris | they took |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a pris le train pour Lyon.
Yesterday, Paul took the train to Lyon.
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’ | prenais | I used to take | |
| tu | prenais | you used to take | |
| il / elle / on | prenait | he / she / it used to takeon: we used to take / one used to take | |
| nous | prenions | we used to take | |
| vous | preniez | you used to take | |
| ils / elles | prenaient | they used to take |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul prenait le train pour Lyon.
Back then, Paul used to take the train to Lyon.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prendrai | I will take | |
| tu | prendras | you will take | |
| il / elle / on | prendra | he / she / it will takeon: we will take / one will take | |
| nous | prendrons | we will take | |
| vous | prendrez | you will take | |
| ils / elles | prendront | they will take |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul prendra le train pour Lyon.
Later, Paul will take the train to Lyon.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prendrais | I would take | |
| tu | prendrais | you would take | |
| il / elle / on | prendrait | he / she / it would takeon: we would take / one would take | |
| nous | prendrions | we would take | |
| vous | prendriez | you would take | |
| ils / elles | prendraient | they would take |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul prendrait le train pour Lyon.
Paul would take the train to Lyon.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prenne | (that) I take | |
| tu | prennes | (that) you take | |
| il / elle / on | prenne | (that) he / she / it takeson: (that) we take / one takes | |
| nous | prenions | (that) we take | |
| vous | preniez | (that) you take | |
| ils / elles | prennent | (that) they take |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul prenne le train pour Lyon.
It is possible that Paul takes the train to Lyon.
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 take
- to eat; to drink
- to get; to buy
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