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 up.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renonce | I give up | |
| tu | renonces | you give up | |
| il / elle / on | renonce | he / she / it gives upon: we give up / one gives up | |
| nous | renonçons | we give up | |
| vous | renoncez | you give up | |
| ils / elles | renoncent | they give up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul renonce à ce projet trop coûteux.
Paul gives up this overly expensive project.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai renoncé | I gave up | |
| tu | as renoncé | you gave up | |
| il / elle / on | a renoncé | he / she / it gave upon: we gave up / one gave up | |
| nous | avons renoncé | we gave up | |
| vous | avez renoncé | you gave up | |
| ils / elles | ont renoncé | they gave up |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a renoncé à ce projet trop coûteux.
Yesterday, Paul gave up this overly expensive project.
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’ | renonçais | I used to give up | |
| tu | renonçais | you used to give up | |
| il / elle / on | renonçait | he / she / it used to give upon: we used to give up / one used to give up | |
| nous | renoncions | we used to give up | |
| vous | renonciez | you used to give up | |
| ils / elles | renonçaient | they used to give up |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul renonçait à ce projet trop coûteux.
Back then, Paul used to give up this overly expensive project.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renoncerai | I will give up | |
| tu | renonceras | you will give up | |
| il / elle / on | renoncera | he / she / it will give upon: we will give up / one will give up | |
| nous | renoncerons | we will give up | |
| vous | renoncerez | you will give up | |
| ils / elles | renonceront | they will give up |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul renoncera à ce projet trop coûteux.
Later, Paul will give up this overly expensive project.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renoncerais | I would give up | |
| tu | renoncerais | you would give up | |
| il / elle / on | renoncerait | he / she / it would give upon: we would give up / one would give up | |
| nous | renoncerions | we would give up | |
| vous | renonceriez | you would give up | |
| ils / elles | renonceraient | they would give up |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul renoncerait à ce projet trop coûteux.
Paul would give up this overly expensive project.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renonce | (that) I give up | |
| tu | renonces | (that) you give up | |
| il / elle / on | renonce | (that) he / she / it gives upon: (that) we give up / one gives up | |
| nous | renoncions | (that) we give up | |
| vous | renonciez | (that) you give up | |
| ils / elles | renoncent | (that) they give up |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul renonce à ce projet trop coûteux.
It is possible that Paul gives up this overly expensive project.
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 resign, to quit
- to renounce, to waive (legal; right)
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