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 penalise.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | punis | I penalise | |
| tu | punis | you penalise | |
| il / elle / on | punit | he / she / it penaliseson: we penalise / one penalises | |
| nous | punissons | we penalise | |
| vous | punissez | you penalise | |
| ils / elles | punissent | they penalise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
L'arbitre punit cette faute d'un carton jaune.
The referee penalises this foul with a yellow card.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai puni | I penalised | |
| tu | as puni | you penalised | |
| il / elle / on | a puni | he / she / it penalisedon: we penalised / one penalised | |
| nous | avons puni | we penalised | |
| vous | avez puni | you penalised | |
| ils / elles | ont puni | they penalised |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, l'arbitre a puni cette faute d'un carton jaune.
Yesterday, the referee penalised this foul with a yellow card.
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’ | punissais | I used to penalise | |
| tu | punissais | you used to penalise | |
| il / elle / on | punissait | he / she / it used to penaliseon: we used to penalise / one used to penalise | |
| nous | punissions | we used to penalise | |
| vous | punissiez | you used to penalise | |
| ils / elles | punissaient | they used to penalise |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, l'arbitre punissait cette faute d'un carton jaune.
Back then, the referee used to penalise this foul with a yellow card.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | punirai | I will penalise | |
| tu | puniras | you will penalise | |
| il / elle / on | punira | he / she / it will penaliseon: we will penalise / one will penalise | |
| nous | punirons | we will penalise | |
| vous | punirez | you will penalise | |
| ils / elles | puniront | they will penalise |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, l'arbitre punira cette faute d'un carton jaune.
Later, the referee will penalise this foul with a yellow card.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | punirais | I would penalise | |
| tu | punirais | you would penalise | |
| il / elle / on | punirait | he / she / it would penaliseon: we would penalise / one would penalise | |
| nous | punirions | we would penalise | |
| vous | puniriez | you would penalise | |
| ils / elles | puniraient | they would penalise |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
L'arbitre punirait cette faute d'un carton jaune.
The referee would penalise this foul with a yellow card.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | punisse | (that) I penalise | |
| tu | punisses | (that) you penalise | |
| il / elle / on | punisse | (that) he / she / it penaliseson: (that) we penalise / one penalises | |
| nous | punissions | (that) we penalise | |
| vous | punissiez | (that) you penalise | |
| ils / elles | punissent | (that) they penalise |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que l'arbitre punisse cette faute d'un carton jaune.
It is possible that the referee penalises this foul with a yellow card.
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 punish
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