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 warn.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préviens | I warn | |
| tu | préviens | you warn | |
| il / elle / on | prévient | he / she / it warnson: we warn / one warns | |
| nous | prévenons | we warn | |
| vous | prévenez | you warn | |
| ils / elles | préviennent | they warn |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul prévient ses voisins du danger.
Paul warns his neighbors about the danger.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai prévenu | I warned | |
| tu | as prévenu | you warned | |
| il / elle / on | a prévenu | he / she / it warnedon: we warned / one warned | |
| nous | avons prévenu | we warned | |
| vous | avez prévenu | you warned | |
| ils / elles | ont prévenu | they warned |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a prévenu ses voisins du danger.
Yesterday, Paul warned his neighbors about the danger.
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’ | prévenais | I used to warn | |
| tu | prévenais | you used to warn | |
| il / elle / on | prévenait | he / she / it used to warnon: we used to warn / one used to warn | |
| nous | prévenions | we used to warn | |
| vous | préveniez | you used to warn | |
| ils / elles | prévenaient | they used to warn |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul prévenait ses voisins du danger.
Back then, Paul used to warn his neighbors about the danger.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préviendrai | I will warn | |
| tu | préviendras | you will warn | |
| il / elle / on | préviendra | he / she / it will warnon: we will warn / one will warn | |
| nous | préviendrons | we will warn | |
| vous | préviendrez | you will warn | |
| ils / elles | préviendront | they will warn |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul préviendra ses voisins du danger.
Later, Paul will warn his neighbors about the danger.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | préviendrais | I would warn | |
| tu | préviendrais | you would warn | |
| il / elle / on | préviendrait | he / she / it would warnon: we would warn / one would warn | |
| nous | préviendrions | we would warn | |
| vous | préviendriez | you would warn | |
| ils / elles | préviendraient | they would warn |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul préviendrait ses voisins du danger.
Paul would warn his neighbors about the danger.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | prévienne | (that) I warn | |
| tu | préviennes | (that) you warn | |
| il / elle / on | prévienne | (that) he / she / it warnson: (that) we warn / one warns | |
| nous | prévenions | (that) we warn | |
| vous | préveniez | (that) you warn | |
| ils / elles | préviennent | (that) they warn |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul prévienne ses voisins du danger.
It is possible that Paul warns his neighbors about the danger.
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 warn; to prevent
- to prevent, to avert, to guard against
- to notify, to warn, to forewarn
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