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 receive.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reçois | I receive | |
| tu | reçois | you receive | |
| il / elle / on | reçoit | he / she / it receiveson: we receive / one receives | |
| nous | recevons | we receive | |
| vous | recevez | you receive | |
| ils / elles | reçoivent | they receive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul reçoit une lettre de son frère.
Paul receives a letter from his brother.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai reçu | I received | |
| tu | as reçu | you received | |
| il / elle / on | a reçu | he / she / it receivedon: we received / one received | |
| nous | avons reçu | we received | |
| vous | avez reçu | you received | |
| ils / elles | ont reçu | they received |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a reçu une lettre de son frère.
Yesterday, Paul received a letter from his brother.
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’ | recevais | I used to receive | |
| tu | recevais | you used to receive | |
| il / elle / on | recevait | he / she / it used to receiveon: we used to receive / one used to receive | |
| nous | recevions | we used to receive | |
| vous | receviez | you used to receive | |
| ils / elles | recevaient | they used to receive |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul recevait une lettre de son frère.
Back then, Paul used to receive a letter from his brother.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recevrai | I will receive | |
| tu | recevras | you will receive | |
| il / elle / on | recevra | he / she / it will receiveon: we will receive / one will receive | |
| nous | recevrons | we will receive | |
| vous | recevrez | you will receive | |
| ils / elles | recevront | they will receive |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul recevra une lettre de son frère.
Later, Paul will receive a letter from his brother.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recevrais | I would receive | |
| tu | recevrais | you would receive | |
| il / elle / on | recevrait | he / she / it would receiveon: we would receive / one would receive | |
| nous | recevrions | we would receive | |
| vous | recevriez | you would receive | |
| ils / elles | recevraient | they would receive |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul recevrait une lettre de son frère.
Paul would receive a letter from his brother.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reçoive | (that) I receive | |
| tu | reçoives | (that) you receive | |
| il / elle / on | reçoive | (that) he / she / it receiveson: (that) we receive / one receives | |
| nous | recevions | (that) we receive | |
| vous | receviez | (that) you receive | |
| ils / elles | reçoivent | (that) they receive |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul reçoive une lettre de son frère.
It is possible that Paul receives a letter from his brother.
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 receive
- to entertain (to welcome guests)
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