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 miss.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rate | I miss | |
| tu | rates | you miss | |
| il / elle / on | rate | he / she / it misseson: we miss / one misses | |
| nous | ratons | we miss | |
| vous | ratez | you miss | |
| ils / elles | ratent | they miss |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rate le dernier train.
Paul misses the last train.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai raté | I missed | |
| tu | as raté | you missed | |
| il / elle / on | a raté | he / she / it missedon: we missed / one missed | |
| nous | avons raté | we missed | |
| vous | avez raté | you missed | |
| ils / elles | ont raté | they missed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a raté le dernier train.
Yesterday, Paul missed the last train.
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’ | ratais | I used to miss | |
| tu | ratais | you used to miss | |
| il / elle / on | ratait | he / she / it used to misson: we used to miss / one used to miss | |
| nous | rations | we used to miss | |
| vous | ratiez | you used to miss | |
| ils / elles | rataient | they used to miss |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul ratait le dernier train.
Back then, Paul used to miss the last train.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | raterai | I will miss | |
| tu | rateras | you will miss | |
| il / elle / on | ratera | he / she / it will misson: we will miss / one will miss | |
| nous | raterons | we will miss | |
| vous | raterez | you will miss | |
| ils / elles | rateront | they will miss |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul ratera le dernier train.
Later, Paul will miss the last train.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | raterais | I would miss | |
| tu | raterais | you would miss | |
| il / elle / on | raterait | he / she / it would misson: we would miss / one would miss | |
| nous | raterions | we would miss | |
| vous | rateriez | you would miss | |
| ils / elles | rateraient | they would miss |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul raterait le dernier train.
Paul would miss the last train.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rate | (that) I miss | |
| tu | rates | (that) you miss | |
| il / elle / on | rate | (that) he / she / it misseson: (that) we miss / one misses | |
| nous | rations | (that) we miss | |
| vous | ratiez | (that) you miss | |
| ils / elles | ratent | (that) they miss |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rate le dernier train.
It is possible that Paul misses the last train.
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 miss (an event or a thing)
- to screw up; to mess up
- to fail to fire; to misfire
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