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 tell.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | raconte | I tell | |
| tu | racontes | you tell | |
| il / elle / on | raconte | he / she / it tellson: we tell / one tells | |
| nous | racontons | we tell | |
| vous | racontez | you tell | |
| ils / elles | racontent | they tell |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul raconte une histoire à son neveu.
Paul tells a story to his nephew.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai raconté | I told | |
| tu | as raconté | you told | |
| il / elle / on | a raconté | he / she / it toldon: we told / one told | |
| nous | avons raconté | we told | |
| vous | avez raconté | you told | |
| ils / elles | ont raconté | they told |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a raconté une histoire à son neveu.
Yesterday, Paul told a story to his nephew.
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’ | racontais | I used to tell | |
| tu | racontais | you used to tell | |
| il / elle / on | racontait | he / she / it used to tellon: we used to tell / one used to tell | |
| nous | racontions | we used to tell | |
| vous | racontiez | you used to tell | |
| ils / elles | racontaient | they used to tell |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul racontait une histoire à son neveu.
Back then, Paul used to tell a story to his nephew.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | raconterai | I will tell | |
| tu | raconteras | you will tell | |
| il / elle / on | racontera | he / she / it will tellon: we will tell / one will tell | |
| nous | raconterons | we will tell | |
| vous | raconterez | you will tell | |
| ils / elles | raconteront | they will tell |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul racontera une histoire à son neveu.
Later, Paul will tell a story to his nephew.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | raconterais | I would tell | |
| tu | raconterais | you would tell | |
| il / elle / on | raconterait | he / she / it would tellon: we would tell / one would tell | |
| nous | raconterions | we would tell | |
| vous | raconteriez | you would tell | |
| ils / elles | raconteraient | they would tell |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul raconterait une histoire à son neveu.
Paul would tell a story to his nephew.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | raconte | (that) I tell | |
| tu | racontes | (that) you tell | |
| il / elle / on | raconte | (that) he / she / it tellson: (that) we tell / one tells | |
| nous | racontions | (that) we tell | |
| vous | racontiez | (that) you tell | |
| ils / elles | racontent | (that) they tell |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul raconte une histoire à son neveu.
It is possible that Paul tells a story to his nephew.
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 recount; to tell; to narrate
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