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 protest.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | proteste | I protest | |
| tu | protestes | you protest | |
| il / elle / on | proteste | he / she / it protestson: we protest / one protests | |
| nous | protestons | we protest | |
| vous | protestez | you protest | |
| ils / elles | protestent | they protest |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul proteste contre la fermeture du parc.
Paul protests against the park's closure.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai protesté | I protested | |
| tu | as protesté | you protested | |
| il / elle / on | a protesté | he / she / it protestedon: we protested / one protested | |
| nous | avons protesté | we protested | |
| vous | avez protesté | you protested | |
| ils / elles | ont protesté | they protested |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a protesté contre la fermeture du parc.
Yesterday, Paul protested against the park's closure.
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’ | protestais | I used to protest | |
| tu | protestais | you used to protest | |
| il / elle / on | protestait | he / she / it used to proteston: we used to protest / one used to protest | |
| nous | protestions | we used to protest | |
| vous | protestiez | you used to protest | |
| ils / elles | protestaient | they used to protest |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul protestait contre la fermeture du parc.
Back then, Paul used to protest against the park's closure.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | protesterai | I will protest | |
| tu | protesteras | you will protest | |
| il / elle / on | protestera | he / she / it will proteston: we will protest / one will protest | |
| nous | protesterons | we will protest | |
| vous | protesterez | you will protest | |
| ils / elles | protesteront | they will protest |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul protestera contre la fermeture du parc.
Later, Paul will protest against the park's closure.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | protesterais | I would protest | |
| tu | protesterais | you would protest | |
| il / elle / on | protesterait | he / she / it would proteston: we would protest / one would protest | |
| nous | protesterions | we would protest | |
| vous | protesteriez | you would protest | |
| ils / elles | protesteraient | they would protest |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul protesterait contre la fermeture du parc.
Paul would protest against the park's closure.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | proteste | (that) I protest | |
| tu | protestes | (that) you protest | |
| il / elle / on | proteste | (that) he / she / it protestson: (that) we protest / one protests | |
| nous | protestions | (that) we protest | |
| vous | protestiez | (that) you protest | |
| ils / elles | protestent | (that) they protest |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul proteste contre la fermeture du parc.
It is possible that Paul protests against the park's closure.
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 protest; to object
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