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 prepare.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prépare | I prepare | |
| tu | prépares | you prepare | |
| il / elle / on | prépare | he / she / it prepareson: we prepare / one prepares | |
| nous | préparons | we prepare | |
| vous | préparez | you prepare | |
| ils / elles | préparent | they prepare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul prépare le repas pour sa famille.
Paul prepares the meal for his family.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai préparé | I prepared | |
| tu | as préparé | you prepared | |
| il / elle / on | a préparé | he / she / it preparedon: we prepared / one prepared | |
| nous | avons préparé | we prepared | |
| vous | avez préparé | you prepared | |
| ils / elles | ont préparé | they prepared |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a préparé le repas pour sa famille.
Yesterday, Paul prepared the meal for his family.
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’ | préparais | I used to prepare | |
| tu | préparais | you used to prepare | |
| il / elle / on | préparait | he / she / it used to prepareon: we used to prepare / one used to prepare | |
| nous | préparions | we used to prepare | |
| vous | prépariez | you used to prepare | |
| ils / elles | préparaient | they used to prepare |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul préparait le repas pour sa famille.
Back then, Paul used to prepare the meal for his family.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préparerai | I will prepare | |
| tu | prépareras | you will prepare | |
| il / elle / on | préparera | he / she / it will prepareon: we will prepare / one will prepare | |
| nous | préparerons | we will prepare | |
| vous | préparerez | you will prepare | |
| ils / elles | prépareront | they will prepare |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul préparera le repas pour sa famille.
Later, Paul will prepare the meal for his family.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préparerais | I would prepare | |
| tu | préparerais | you would prepare | |
| il / elle / on | préparerait | he / she / it would prepareon: we would prepare / one would prepare | |
| nous | préparerions | we would prepare | |
| vous | prépareriez | you would prepare | |
| ils / elles | prépareraient | they would prepare |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul préparerait le repas pour sa famille.
Paul would prepare the meal for his family.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prépare | (that) I prepare | |
| tu | prépares | (that) you prepare | |
| il / elle / on | prépare | (that) he / she / it prepareson: (that) we prepare / one prepares | |
| nous | préparions | (that) we prepare | |
| vous | prépariez | (that) you prepare | |
| ils / elles | préparent | (that) they prepare |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul prépare le repas pour sa famille.
It is possible that Paul prepares the meal for his family.
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 prepare
- to prepare for
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