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 bring back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapporte | I bring back | |
| tu | rapportes | you bring back | |
| il / elle / on | rapporte | he / she / it brings backon: we bring back / one brings back | |
| nous | rapportons | we bring back | |
| vous | rapportez | you bring back | |
| ils / elles | rapportent | they bring back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rapporte des souvenirs de son voyage.
Paul brings back souvenirs from his trip.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rapporté | I brought back | |
| tu | as rapporté | you brought back | |
| il / elle / on | a rapporté | he / she / it brought backon: we brought back / one brought back | |
| nous | avons rapporté | we brought back | |
| vous | avez rapporté | you brought back | |
| ils / elles | ont rapporté | they brought back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rapporté des souvenirs de son voyage.
Yesterday, Paul brought back souvenirs from his trip.
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’ | rapportais | I used to bring back | |
| tu | rapportais | you used to bring back | |
| il / elle / on | rapportait | he / she / it used to bring backon: we used to bring back / one used to bring back | |
| nous | rapportions | we used to bring back | |
| vous | rapportiez | you used to bring back | |
| ils / elles | rapportaient | they used to bring back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rapportait des souvenirs de son voyage.
Back then, Paul used to bring back souvenirs from his trip.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapporterai | I will bring back | |
| tu | rapporteras | you will bring back | |
| il / elle / on | rapportera | he / she / it will bring backon: we will bring back / one will bring back | |
| nous | rapporterons | we will bring back | |
| vous | rapporterez | you will bring back | |
| ils / elles | rapporteront | they will bring back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rapportera des souvenirs de son voyage.
Later, Paul will bring back souvenirs from his trip.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapporterais | I would bring back | |
| tu | rapporterais | you would bring back | |
| il / elle / on | rapporterait | he / she / it would bring backon: we would bring back / one would bring back | |
| nous | rapporterions | we would bring back | |
| vous | rapporteriez | you would bring back | |
| ils / elles | rapporteraient | they would bring back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rapporterait des souvenirs de son voyage.
Paul would bring back souvenirs from his trip.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rapporte | (that) I bring back | |
| tu | rapportes | (that) you bring back | |
| il / elle / on | rapporte | (that) he / she / it brings backon: (that) we bring back / one brings back | |
| nous | rapportions | (that) we bring back | |
| vous | rapportiez | (that) you bring back | |
| ils / elles | rapportent | (that) they bring back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rapporte des souvenirs de son voyage.
It is possible that Paul brings back souvenirs from his trip.
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 bring back (physically bring something back from where it came from)
- to retrieve
- to fetch
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