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 bounce.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rebondis | I bounce | |
| tu | rebondis | you bounce | |
| il / elle / on | rebondit | he / she / it bounceson: we bounce / one bounces | |
| nous | rebondissons | we bounce | |
| vous | rebondissez | you bounce | |
| ils / elles | rebondissent | they bounce |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le ballon rebondit contre le mur.
The ball bounces against the wall.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rebondi | I bounced | |
| tu | as rebondi | you bounced | |
| il / elle / on | a rebondi | he / she / it bouncedon: we bounced / one bounced | |
| nous | avons rebondi | we bounced | |
| vous | avez rebondi | you bounced | |
| ils / elles | ont rebondi | they bounced |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le ballon a rebondi contre le mur.
Yesterday, the ball bounced against the wall.
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’ | rebondissais | I used to bounce | |
| tu | rebondissais | you used to bounce | |
| il / elle / on | rebondissait | he / she / it used to bounceon: we used to bounce / one used to bounce | |
| nous | rebondissions | we used to bounce | |
| vous | rebondissiez | you used to bounce | |
| ils / elles | rebondissaient | they used to bounce |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le ballon rebondissait contre le mur.
Back then, the ball used to bounce against the wall.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rebondirai | I will bounce | |
| tu | rebondiras | you will bounce | |
| il / elle / on | rebondira | he / she / it will bounceon: we will bounce / one will bounce | |
| nous | rebondirons | we will bounce | |
| vous | rebondirez | you will bounce | |
| ils / elles | rebondiront | they will bounce |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le ballon rebondira contre le mur.
Later, the ball will bounce against the wall.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rebondirais | I would bounce | |
| tu | rebondirais | you would bounce | |
| il / elle / on | rebondirait | he / she / it would bounceon: we would bounce / one would bounce | |
| nous | rebondirions | we would bounce | |
| vous | rebondiriez | you would bounce | |
| ils / elles | rebondiraient | they would bounce |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le ballon rebondirait contre le mur.
The ball would bounce against the wall.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rebondisse | (that) I bounce | |
| tu | rebondisses | (that) you bounce | |
| il / elle / on | rebondisse | (that) he / she / it bounceson: (that) we bounce / one bounces | |
| nous | rebondissions | (that) we bounce | |
| vous | rebondissiez | (that) you bounce | |
| ils / elles | rebondissent | (that) they bounce |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le ballon rebondisse contre le mur.
It is possible that the ball bounces against the wall.
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 bounce, rebound
- to pick oneself up, to get back on one's feet
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