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 reward.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récompense | I reward | |
| tu | récompenses | you reward | |
| il / elle / on | récompense | he / she / it rewardson: we reward / one rewards | |
| nous | récompensons | we reward | |
| vous | récompensez | you reward | |
| ils / elles | récompensent | they reward |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul récompense les bénévoles pour leur travail.
Paul rewards the volunteers for their work.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai récompensé | I rewarded | |
| tu | as récompensé | you rewarded | |
| il / elle / on | a récompensé | he / she / it rewardedon: we rewarded / one rewarded | |
| nous | avons récompensé | we rewarded | |
| vous | avez récompensé | you rewarded | |
| ils / elles | ont récompensé | they rewarded |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a récompensé les bénévoles pour leur travail.
Yesterday, Paul rewarded the volunteers for their work.
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’ | récompensais | I used to reward | |
| tu | récompensais | you used to reward | |
| il / elle / on | récompensait | he / she / it used to rewardon: we used to reward / one used to reward | |
| nous | récompensions | we used to reward | |
| vous | récompensiez | you used to reward | |
| ils / elles | récompensaient | they used to reward |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul récompensait les bénévoles pour leur travail.
Back then, Paul used to reward the volunteers for their work.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récompenserai | I will reward | |
| tu | récompenseras | you will reward | |
| il / elle / on | récompensera | he / she / it will rewardon: we will reward / one will reward | |
| nous | récompenserons | we will reward | |
| vous | récompenserez | you will reward | |
| ils / elles | récompenseront | they will reward |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul récompensera les bénévoles pour leur travail.
Later, Paul will reward the volunteers for their work.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récompenserais | I would reward | |
| tu | récompenserais | you would reward | |
| il / elle / on | récompenserait | he / she / it would rewardon: we would reward / one would reward | |
| nous | récompenserions | we would reward | |
| vous | récompenseriez | you would reward | |
| ils / elles | récompenseraient | they would reward |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul récompenserait les bénévoles pour leur travail.
Paul would reward the volunteers for their work.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récompense | (that) I reward | |
| tu | récompenses | (that) you reward | |
| il / elle / on | récompense | (that) he / she / it rewardson: (that) we reward / one rewards | |
| nous | récompensions | (that) we reward | |
| vous | récompensiez | (that) you reward | |
| ils / elles | récompensent | (that) they reward |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul récompense les bénévoles pour leur travail.
It is possible that Paul rewards the volunteers for their work.
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 award
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