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 give back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redonne | I give back | |
| tu | redonnes | you give back | |
| il / elle / on | redonne | he / she / it gives backon: we give back / one gives back | |
| nous | redonnons | we give back | |
| vous | redonnez | you give back | |
| ils / elles | redonnent | they give back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul redonne le livre à son propriétaire.
Paul gives back the book to its owner.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai redonné | I gave back | |
| tu | as redonné | you gave back | |
| il / elle / on | a redonné | he / she / it gave backon: we gave back / one gave back | |
| nous | avons redonné | we gave back | |
| vous | avez redonné | you gave back | |
| ils / elles | ont redonné | they gave back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a redonné le livre à son propriétaire.
Yesterday, Paul gave back the book to its owner.
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’ | redonnais | I used to give back | |
| tu | redonnais | you used to give back | |
| il / elle / on | redonnait | he / she / it used to give backon: we used to give back / one used to give back | |
| nous | redonnions | we used to give back | |
| vous | redonniez | you used to give back | |
| ils / elles | redonnaient | they used to give back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul redonnait le livre à son propriétaire.
Back then, Paul used to give back the book to its owner.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redonnerai | I will give back | |
| tu | redonneras | you will give back | |
| il / elle / on | redonnera | he / she / it will give backon: we will give back / one will give back | |
| nous | redonnerons | we will give back | |
| vous | redonnerez | you will give back | |
| ils / elles | redonneront | they will give back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul redonnera le livre à son propriétaire.
Later, Paul will give back the book to its owner.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redonnerais | I would give back | |
| tu | redonnerais | you would give back | |
| il / elle / on | redonnerait | he / she / it would give backon: we would give back / one would give back | |
| nous | redonnerions | we would give back | |
| vous | redonneriez | you would give back | |
| ils / elles | redonneraient | they would give back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul redonnerait le livre à son propriétaire.
Paul would give back the book to its owner.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | redonne | (that) I give back | |
| tu | redonnes | (that) you give back | |
| il / elle / on | redonne | (that) he / she / it gives backon: (that) we give back / one gives back | |
| nous | redonnions | (that) we give back | |
| vous | redonniez | (that) you give back | |
| ils / elles | redonnent | (that) they give back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul redonne le livre à son propriétaire.
It is possible that Paul gives back the book to its owner.
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 give again
- to give back
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