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 send back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renvoie | I send back | |
| tu | renvoies | you send back | |
| il / elle / on | renvoie | he / she / it sends backon: we send back / one sends back | |
| nous | renvoyons | we send back | |
| vous | renvoyez | you send back | |
| ils / elles | renvoient | they send back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul renvoie le colis à l'expéditeur.
Paul sends back the parcel to the sender.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai renvoyé | I sent back | |
| tu | as renvoyé | you sent back | |
| il / elle / on | a renvoyé | he / she / it sent backon: we sent back / one sent back | |
| nous | avons renvoyé | we sent back | |
| vous | avez renvoyé | you sent back | |
| ils / elles | ont renvoyé | they sent back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a renvoyé le colis à l'expéditeur.
Yesterday, Paul sent back the parcel to the sender.
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’ | renvoyais | I used to send back | |
| tu | renvoyais | you used to send back | |
| il / elle / on | renvoyait | he / she / it used to send backon: we used to send back / one used to send back | |
| nous | renvoyions | we used to send back | |
| vous | renvoyiez | you used to send back | |
| ils / elles | renvoyaient | they used to send back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul renvoyait le colis à l'expéditeur.
Back then, Paul used to send back the parcel to the sender.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renverrai | I will send back | |
| tu | renverras | you will send back | |
| il / elle / on | renverra | he / she / it will send backon: we will send back / one will send back | |
| nous | renverrons | we will send back | |
| vous | renverrez | you will send back | |
| ils / elles | renverront | they will send back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul renverra le colis à l'expéditeur.
Later, Paul will send back the parcel to the sender.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renverrais | I would send back | |
| tu | renverrais | you would send back | |
| il / elle / on | renverrait | he / she / it would send backon: we would send back / one would send back | |
| nous | renverrions | we would send back | |
| vous | renverriez | you would send back | |
| ils / elles | renverraient | they would send back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul renverrait le colis à l'expéditeur.
Paul would send back the parcel to the sender.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | renvoie | (that) I send back | |
| tu | renvoies | (that) you send back | |
| il / elle / on | renvoie | (that) he / she / it sends backon: (that) we send back / one sends back | |
| nous | renvoyions | (that) we send back | |
| vous | renvoyiez | (that) you send back | |
| ils / elles | renvoient | (that) they send back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul renvoie le colis à l'expéditeur.
It is possible that Paul sends back the parcel to the sender.
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 resend, retransmit; to send again
- to send back (to give back to the original sender)
- to give back, throw back, post back, bounce back, swing back etc.
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