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 come back down.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redescends | I come back down | |
| tu | redescends | you come back down | |
| il / elle / on | redescend | he / she / it comes back downon: we come back down / one comes back down | |
| nous | redescendons | we come back down | |
| vous | redescendez | you come back down | |
| ils / elles | redescendent | they come back down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul redescend de la montagne.
Paul comes back down from the mountain.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis redescendu / suis redescendue | I came back down | |
| tu | es redescendu / es redescendue | you came back down | |
| il / elle / on | est redescendu / est redescendue | he / she / it came back downon: we came back down / one came back down | |
| nous | sommes redescendus / sommes redescendues | we came back down | |
| vous | êtes redescendu / êtes redescendue / êtes redescendus / êtes redescendues | you came back down | |
| ils / elles | sont redescendus / sont redescendues | they came back down |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est redescendu de la montagne.
Yesterday, Paul came back down from the mountain.
The passé composé shown is the intransitive motion use with être. With a direct object, this verb can use avoir; check the meaning in context. With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redescendais | I used to come back down | |
| tu | redescendais | you used to come back down | |
| il / elle / on | redescendait | he / she / it used to come back downon: we used to come back down / one used to come back down | |
| nous | redescendions | we used to come back down | |
| vous | redescendiez | you used to come back down | |
| ils / elles | redescendaient | they used to come back down |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul redescendait de la montagne.
Back then, Paul used to come back down from the mountain.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redescendrai | I will come back down | |
| tu | redescendras | you will come back down | |
| il / elle / on | redescendra | he / she / it will come back downon: we will come back down / one will come back down | |
| nous | redescendrons | we will come back down | |
| vous | redescendrez | you will come back down | |
| ils / elles | redescendront | they will come back down |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul redescendra de la montagne.
Later, Paul will come back down from the mountain.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redescendrais | I would come back down | |
| tu | redescendrais | you would come back down | |
| il / elle / on | redescendrait | he / she / it would come back downon: we would come back down / one would come back down | |
| nous | redescendrions | we would come back down | |
| vous | redescendriez | you would come back down | |
| ils / elles | redescendraient | they would come back down |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul redescendrait de la montagne.
Paul would come back down from the mountain.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redescende | (that) I come back down | |
| tu | redescendes | (that) you come back down | |
| il / elle / on | redescende | (that) he / she / it comes back downon: (that) we come back down / one comes back down | |
| nous | redescendions | (that) we come back down | |
| vous | redescendiez | (that) you come back down | |
| ils / elles | redescendent | (that) they come back down |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul redescende de la montagne.
It is possible that Paul comes back down from the mountain.
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.”
The example describes coming back down, without a direct object, so the passé composé uses être and masculine agreement for Paul.
Meaning & usage
- to come back down, to go back down (to descend shortly after having gone up)
- to redescend (to descend a second time)
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