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 suggest.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | propose | I suggest | |
| tu | proposes | you suggest | |
| il / elle / on | propose | he / she / it suggestson: we suggest / one suggests | |
| nous | proposons | we suggest | |
| vous | proposez | you suggest | |
| ils / elles | proposent | they suggest |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul propose une promenade au bord du lac.
Paul suggests a walk by the lake.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai proposé | I suggested | |
| tu | as proposé | you suggested | |
| il / elle / on | a proposé | he / she / it suggestedon: we suggested / one suggested | |
| nous | avons proposé | we suggested | |
| vous | avez proposé | you suggested | |
| ils / elles | ont proposé | they suggested |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a proposé une promenade au bord du lac.
Yesterday, Paul suggested a walk by the lake.
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’ | proposais | I used to suggest | |
| tu | proposais | you used to suggest | |
| il / elle / on | proposait | he / she / it used to suggeston: we used to suggest / one used to suggest | |
| nous | proposions | we used to suggest | |
| vous | proposiez | you used to suggest | |
| ils / elles | proposaient | they used to suggest |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul proposait une promenade au bord du lac.
Back then, Paul used to suggest a walk by the lake.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | proposerai | I will suggest | |
| tu | proposeras | you will suggest | |
| il / elle / on | proposera | he / she / it will suggeston: we will suggest / one will suggest | |
| nous | proposerons | we will suggest | |
| vous | proposerez | you will suggest | |
| ils / elles | proposeront | they will suggest |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul proposera une promenade au bord du lac.
Later, Paul will suggest a walk by the lake.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | proposerais | I would suggest | |
| tu | proposerais | you would suggest | |
| il / elle / on | proposerait | he / she / it would suggeston: we would suggest / one would suggest | |
| nous | proposerions | we would suggest | |
| vous | proposeriez | you would suggest | |
| ils / elles | proposeraient | they would suggest |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul proposerait une promenade au bord du lac.
Paul would suggest a walk by the lake.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | propose | (that) I suggest | |
| tu | proposes | (that) you suggest | |
| il / elle / on | propose | (that) he / she / it suggestson: (that) we suggest / one suggests | |
| nous | proposions | (that) we suggest | |
| vous | proposiez | (that) you suggest | |
| ils / elles | proposent | (that) they suggest |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul propose une promenade au bord du lac.
It is possible that Paul suggests a walk by the lake.
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 propose, suggest
- to propose (offer)
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