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 regret.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regrette | I regret | |
| tu | regrettes | you regret | |
| il / elle / on | regrette | he / she / it regretson: we regret / one regrets | |
| nous | regrettons | we regret | |
| vous | regrettez | you regret | |
| ils / elles | regrettent | they regret |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul regrette son départ précipité.
Paul regrets his hasty departure.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai regretté | I regretted | |
| tu | as regretté | you regretted | |
| il / elle / on | a regretté | he / she / it regrettedon: we regretted / one regretted | |
| nous | avons regretté | we regretted | |
| vous | avez regretté | you regretted | |
| ils / elles | ont regretté | they regretted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a regretté son départ précipité.
Yesterday, Paul regretted his hasty departure.
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’ | regrettais | I used to regret | |
| tu | regrettais | you used to regret | |
| il / elle / on | regrettait | he / she / it used to regreton: we used to regret / one used to regret | |
| nous | regrettions | we used to regret | |
| vous | regrettiez | you used to regret | |
| ils / elles | regrettaient | they used to regret |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul regrettait son départ précipité.
Back then, Paul used to regret his hasty departure.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regretterai | I will regret | |
| tu | regretteras | you will regret | |
| il / elle / on | regrettera | he / she / it will regreton: we will regret / one will regret | |
| nous | regretterons | we will regret | |
| vous | regretterez | you will regret | |
| ils / elles | regretteront | they will regret |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul regrettera son départ précipité.
Later, Paul will regret his hasty departure.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regretterais | I would regret | |
| tu | regretterais | you would regret | |
| il / elle / on | regretterait | he / she / it would regreton: we would regret / one would regret | |
| nous | regretterions | we would regret | |
| vous | regretteriez | you would regret | |
| ils / elles | regretteraient | they would regret |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul regretterait son départ précipité.
Paul would regret his hasty departure.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | regrette | (that) I regret | |
| tu | regrettes | (that) you regret | |
| il / elle / on | regrette | (that) he / she / it regretson: (that) we regret / one regrets | |
| nous | regrettions | (that) we regret | |
| vous | regrettiez | (that) you regret | |
| ils / elles | regrettent | (that) they regret |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul regrette son départ précipité.
It is possible that Paul regrets his hasty departure.
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 regret
- to miss; to wish something had not happened or occurred
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