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 recommend.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recommande | I recommend | |
| tu | recommandes | you recommend | |
| il / elle / on | recommande | he / she / it recommendson: we recommend / one recommends | |
| nous | recommandons | we recommend | |
| vous | recommandez | you recommend | |
| ils / elles | recommandent | they recommend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul recommande ce restaurant à ses amis.
Paul recommends this restaurant to his friends.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai recommandé | I recommended | |
| tu | as recommandé | you recommended | |
| il / elle / on | a recommandé | he / she / it recommendedon: we recommended / one recommended | |
| nous | avons recommandé | we recommended | |
| vous | avez recommandé | you recommended | |
| ils / elles | ont recommandé | they recommended |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a recommandé ce restaurant à ses amis.
Yesterday, Paul recommended this restaurant to his friends.
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’ | recommandais | I used to recommend | |
| tu | recommandais | you used to recommend | |
| il / elle / on | recommandait | he / she / it used to recommendon: we used to recommend / one used to recommend | |
| nous | recommandions | we used to recommend | |
| vous | recommandiez | you used to recommend | |
| ils / elles | recommandaient | they used to recommend |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul recommandait ce restaurant à ses amis.
Back then, Paul used to recommend this restaurant to his friends.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recommanderai | I will recommend | |
| tu | recommanderas | you will recommend | |
| il / elle / on | recommandera | he / she / it will recommendon: we will recommend / one will recommend | |
| nous | recommanderons | we will recommend | |
| vous | recommanderez | you will recommend | |
| ils / elles | recommanderont | they will recommend |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul recommandera ce restaurant à ses amis.
Later, Paul will recommend this restaurant to his friends.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recommanderais | I would recommend | |
| tu | recommanderais | you would recommend | |
| il / elle / on | recommanderait | he / she / it would recommendon: we would recommend / one would recommend | |
| nous | recommanderions | we would recommend | |
| vous | recommanderiez | you would recommend | |
| ils / elles | recommanderaient | they would recommend |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul recommanderait ce restaurant à ses amis.
Paul would recommend this restaurant to his friends.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | recommande | (that) I recommend | |
| tu | recommandes | (that) you recommend | |
| il / elle / on | recommande | (that) he / she / it recommendson: (that) we recommend / one recommends | |
| nous | recommandions | (that) we recommend | |
| vous | recommandiez | (that) you recommend | |
| ils / elles | recommandent | (that) they recommend |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul recommande ce restaurant à ses amis.
It is possible that Paul recommends this restaurant to his friends.
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 recommend, to endorse
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