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 lend.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prête | I lend | |
| tu | prêtes | you lend | |
| il / elle / on | prête | he / she / it lendson: we lend / one lends | |
| nous | prêtons | we lend | |
| vous | prêtez | you lend | |
| ils / elles | prêtent | they lend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul prête son vélo à son frère.
Paul lends his bicycle to his brother.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai prêté | I lent | |
| tu | as prêté | you lent | |
| il / elle / on | a prêté | he / she / it lenton: we lent / one lent | |
| nous | avons prêté | we lent | |
| vous | avez prêté | you lent | |
| ils / elles | ont prêté | they lent |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a prêté son vélo à son frère.
Yesterday, Paul lent his bicycle to his brother.
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’ | prêtais | I used to lend | |
| tu | prêtais | you used to lend | |
| il / elle / on | prêtait | he / she / it used to lendon: we used to lend / one used to lend | |
| nous | prêtions | we used to lend | |
| vous | prêtiez | you used to lend | |
| ils / elles | prêtaient | they used to lend |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul prêtait son vélo à son frère.
Back then, Paul used to lend his bicycle to his brother.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prêterai | I will lend | |
| tu | prêteras | you will lend | |
| il / elle / on | prêtera | he / she / it will lendon: we will lend / one will lend | |
| nous | prêterons | we will lend | |
| vous | prêterez | you will lend | |
| ils / elles | prêteront | they will lend |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul prêtera son vélo à son frère.
Later, Paul will lend his bicycle to his brother.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prêterais | I would lend | |
| tu | prêterais | you would lend | |
| il / elle / on | prêterait | he / she / it would lendon: we would lend / one would lend | |
| nous | prêterions | we would lend | |
| vous | prêteriez | you would lend | |
| ils / elles | prêteraient | they would lend |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul prêterait son vélo à son frère.
Paul would lend his bicycle to his brother.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prête | (that) I lend | |
| tu | prêtes | (that) you lend | |
| il / elle / on | prête | (that) he / she / it lendson: (that) we lend / one lends | |
| nous | prêtions | (that) we lend | |
| vous | prêtiez | (that) you lend | |
| ils / elles | prêtent | (that) they lend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul prête son vélo à son frère.
It is possible that Paul lends his bicycle to his brother.
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 lend
- to attribute
- to borrow
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