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 recognize.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reconnais | I recognize | |
| tu | reconnais | you recognize | |
| il / elle / on | reconnaît | he / she / it recognizeson: we recognize / one recognizes | |
| nous | reconnaissons | we recognize | |
| vous | reconnaissez | you recognize | |
| ils / elles | reconnaissent | they recognize |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul reconnaît la voix de son frère.
Paul recognizes his brother's voice.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai reconnu | I recognized | |
| tu | as reconnu | you recognized | |
| il / elle / on | a reconnu | he / she / it recognizedon: we recognized / one recognized | |
| nous | avons reconnu | we recognized | |
| vous | avez reconnu | you recognized | |
| ils / elles | ont reconnu | they recognized |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a reconnu la voix de son frère.
Yesterday, Paul recognized his brother's voice.
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’ | reconnaissais | I used to recognize | |
| tu | reconnaissais | you used to recognize | |
| il / elle / on | reconnaissait | he / she / it used to recognizeon: we used to recognize / one used to recognize | |
| nous | reconnaissions | we used to recognize | |
| vous | reconnaissiez | you used to recognize | |
| ils / elles | reconnaissaient | they used to recognize |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul reconnaissait la voix de son frère.
Back then, Paul used to recognize his brother's voice.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reconnaîtrai | I will recognize | |
| tu | reconnaîtras | you will recognize | |
| il / elle / on | reconnaîtra | he / she / it will recognizeon: we will recognize / one will recognize | |
| nous | reconnaîtrons | we will recognize | |
| vous | reconnaîtrez | you will recognize | |
| ils / elles | reconnaîtront | they will recognize |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul reconnaîtra la voix de son frère.
Later, Paul will recognize his brother's voice.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reconnaîtrais | I would recognize | |
| tu | reconnaîtrais | you would recognize | |
| il / elle / on | reconnaîtrait | he / she / it would recognizeon: we would recognize / one would recognize | |
| nous | reconnaîtrions | we would recognize | |
| vous | reconnaîtriez | you would recognize | |
| ils / elles | reconnaîtraient | they would recognize |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul reconnaîtrait la voix de son frère.
Paul would recognize his brother's voice.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | reconnaisse | (that) I recognize | |
| tu | reconnaisses | (that) you recognize | |
| il / elle / on | reconnaisse | (that) he / she / it recognizeson: (that) we recognize / one recognizes | |
| nous | reconnaissions | (that) we recognize | |
| vous | reconnaissiez | (that) you recognize | |
| ils / elles | reconnaissent | (that) they recognize |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul reconnaisse la voix de son frère.
It is possible that Paul recognizes his brother's voice.
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 recognise (something or someone that one has encountered before)
- to acknowledge, to admit (something is true)
- to acknowledge (a child)
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