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 meet.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rencontre | I meet | |
| tu | rencontres | you meet | |
| il / elle / on | rencontre | he / she / it meetson: we meet / one meets | |
| nous | rencontrons | we meet | |
| vous | rencontrez | you meet | |
| ils / elles | rencontrent | they meet |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rencontre un nouveau voisin.
Paul meets a new neighbor.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rencontré | I met | |
| tu | as rencontré | you met | |
| il / elle / on | a rencontré | he / she / it meton: we met / one met | |
| nous | avons rencontré | we met | |
| vous | avez rencontré | you met | |
| ils / elles | ont rencontré | they met |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rencontré un nouveau voisin.
Yesterday, Paul met a new neighbor.
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’ | rencontrais | I used to meet | |
| tu | rencontrais | you used to meet | |
| il / elle / on | rencontrait | he / she / it used to meeton: we used to meet / one used to meet | |
| nous | rencontrions | we used to meet | |
| vous | rencontriez | you used to meet | |
| ils / elles | rencontraient | they used to meet |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rencontrait un nouveau voisin.
Back then, Paul used to meet a new neighbor.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rencontrerai | I will meet | |
| tu | rencontreras | you will meet | |
| il / elle / on | rencontrera | he / she / it will meeton: we will meet / one will meet | |
| nous | rencontrerons | we will meet | |
| vous | rencontrerez | you will meet | |
| ils / elles | rencontreront | they will meet |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rencontrera un nouveau voisin.
Later, Paul will meet a new neighbor.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rencontrerais | I would meet | |
| tu | rencontrerais | you would meet | |
| il / elle / on | rencontrerait | he / she / it would meeton: we would meet / one would meet | |
| nous | rencontrerions | we would meet | |
| vous | rencontreriez | you would meet | |
| ils / elles | rencontreraient | they would meet |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rencontrerait un nouveau voisin.
Paul would meet a new neighbor.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rencontre | (that) I meet | |
| tu | rencontres | (that) you meet | |
| il / elle / on | rencontre | (that) he / she / it meetson: (that) we meet / one meets | |
| nous | rencontrions | (that) we meet | |
| vous | rencontriez | (that) you meet | |
| ils / elles | rencontrent | (that) they meet |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rencontre un nouveau voisin.
It is possible that Paul meets a new neighbor.
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 meet
- to come across
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