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 reread.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | relis | I reread | |
| tu | relis | you reread | |
| il / elle / on | relit | he / she / it rereadson: we reread / one rereads | |
| nous | relisons | we reread | |
| vous | relisez | you reread | |
| ils / elles | relisent | they reread |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul relit sa lettre avant de l'envoyer.
Paul rereads his letter before sending it.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai relu | I reread | |
| tu | as relu | you reread | |
| il / elle / on | a relu | he / she / it rereadon: we reread / one reread | |
| nous | avons relu | we reread | |
| vous | avez relu | you reread | |
| ils / elles | ont relu | they reread |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a relu sa lettre avant de l'envoyer.
Yesterday, Paul reread his letter before sending it.
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’ | relisais | I used to reread | |
| tu | relisais | you used to reread | |
| il / elle / on | relisait | he / she / it used to rereadon: we used to reread / one used to reread | |
| nous | relisions | we used to reread | |
| vous | relisiez | you used to reread | |
| ils / elles | relisaient | they used to reread |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul relisait sa lettre avant de l'envoyer.
Back then, Paul used to reread his letter before sending it.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | relirai | I will reread | |
| tu | reliras | you will reread | |
| il / elle / on | relira | he / she / it will rereadon: we will reread / one will reread | |
| nous | relirons | we will reread | |
| vous | relirez | you will reread | |
| ils / elles | reliront | they will reread |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul relira sa lettre avant de l'envoyer.
Later, Paul will reread his letter before sending it.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | relirais | I would reread | |
| tu | relirais | you would reread | |
| il / elle / on | relirait | he / she / it would rereadon: we would reread / one would reread | |
| nous | relirions | we would reread | |
| vous | reliriez | you would reread | |
| ils / elles | reliraient | they would reread |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul relirait sa lettre avant de l'envoyer.
Paul would reread his letter before sending it.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | relise | (that) I reread | |
| tu | relises | (that) you reread | |
| il / elle / on | relise | (that) he / she / it rereadson: (that) we reread / one rereads | |
| nous | relisions | (that) we reread | |
| vous | relisiez | (that) you reread | |
| ils / elles | relisent | (that) they reread |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul relise sa lettre avant de l'envoyer.
It is possible that Paul rereads his letter before sending it.
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 reread, to read again
- to proofread, to read through (look for mistakes)
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