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 regain.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regagne | I regain | |
| tu | regagnes | you regain | |
| il / elle / on | regagne | he / she / it regainson: we regain / one regains | |
| nous | regagnons | we regain | |
| vous | regagnez | you regain | |
| ils / elles | regagnent | they regain |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul regagne la confiance de ses collègues.
Paul regains his colleagues' trust.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai regagné | I regained | |
| tu | as regagné | you regained | |
| il / elle / on | a regagné | he / she / it regainedon: we regained / one regained | |
| nous | avons regagné | we regained | |
| vous | avez regagné | you regained | |
| ils / elles | ont regagné | they regained |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a regagné la confiance de ses collègues.
Yesterday, Paul regained his colleagues' trust.
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’ | regagnais | I used to regain | |
| tu | regagnais | you used to regain | |
| il / elle / on | regagnait | he / she / it used to regainon: we used to regain / one used to regain | |
| nous | regagnions | we used to regain | |
| vous | regagniez | you used to regain | |
| ils / elles | regagnaient | they used to regain |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul regagnait la confiance de ses collègues.
Back then, Paul used to regain his colleagues' trust.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regagnerai | I will regain | |
| tu | regagneras | you will regain | |
| il / elle / on | regagnera | he / she / it will regainon: we will regain / one will regain | |
| nous | regagnerons | we will regain | |
| vous | regagnerez | you will regain | |
| ils / elles | regagneront | they will regain |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul regagnera la confiance de ses collègues.
Later, Paul will regain his colleagues' trust.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regagnerais | I would regain | |
| tu | regagnerais | you would regain | |
| il / elle / on | regagnerait | he / she / it would regainon: we would regain / one would regain | |
| nous | regagnerions | we would regain | |
| vous | regagneriez | you would regain | |
| ils / elles | regagneraient | they would regain |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul regagnerait la confiance de ses collègues.
Paul would regain his colleagues' trust.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regagne | (that) I regain | |
| tu | regagnes | (that) you regain | |
| il / elle / on | regagne | (that) he / she / it regainson: (that) we regain / one regains | |
| nous | regagnions | (that) we regain | |
| vous | regagniez | (that) you regain | |
| ils / elles | regagnent | (that) they regain |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul regagne la confiance de ses collègues.
It is possible that Paul regains his colleagues' trust.
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 regain, to recover (something lost)
- to get back, to win back
- to go back to
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