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 get back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récupère | I get back | |
| tu | récupères | you get back | |
| il / elle / on | récupère | he / she / it gets backon: we get back / one gets back | |
| nous | récupérons | we get back | |
| vous | récupérez | you get back | |
| ils / elles | récupèrent | they get back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul récupère son sac à l'accueil.
Paul gets back his bag at reception.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai récupéré | I got back | |
| tu | as récupéré | you got back | |
| il / elle / on | a récupéré | he / she / it got backon: we got back / one got back | |
| nous | avons récupéré | we got back | |
| vous | avez récupéré | you got back | |
| ils / elles | ont récupéré | they got back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a récupéré son sac à l'accueil.
Yesterday, Paul got back his bag at reception.
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’ | récupérais | I used to get back | |
| tu | récupérais | you used to get back | |
| il / elle / on | récupérait | he / she / it used to get backon: we used to get back / one used to get back | |
| nous | récupérions | we used to get back | |
| vous | récupériez | you used to get back | |
| ils / elles | récupéraient | they used to get back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul récupérait son sac à l'accueil.
Back then, Paul used to get back his bag at reception.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récupèrerai / récupérerai | I will get back | |
| tu | récupèreras / récupéreras | you will get back | |
| il / elle / on | récupèrera / récupérera | he / she / it will get backon: we will get back / one will get back | |
| nous | récupèrerons / récupérerons | we will get back | |
| vous | récupèrerez / récupérerez | you will get back | |
| ils / elles | récupèreront / récupéreront | they will get back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul récupèrera son sac à l'accueil.
Later, Paul will get back his bag at reception.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récupèrerais / récupérerais | I would get back | |
| tu | récupèrerais / récupérerais | you would get back | |
| il / elle / on | récupèrerait / récupérerait | he / she / it would get backon: we would get back / one would get back | |
| nous | récupèrerions / récupérerions | we would get back | |
| vous | récupèreriez / récupéreriez | you would get back | |
| ils / elles | récupèreraient / récupéreraient | they would get back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul récupèrerait son sac à l'accueil.
Paul would get back his bag at reception.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | récupère | (that) I get back | |
| tu | récupères | (that) you get back | |
| il / elle / on | récupère | (that) he / she / it gets backon: (that) we get back / one gets back | |
| nous | récupérions | (that) we get back | |
| vous | récupériez | (that) you get back | |
| ils / elles | récupèrent | (that) they get back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul récupère son sac à l'accueil.
It is possible that Paul gets back his bag at reception.
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 get back, to recover, to recuperate
- to reform, to rehabilitate
- to reclaim, to recover
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