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 go past.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repasse | I go past | |
| tu | repasses | you go past | |
| il / elle / on | repasse | he / she / it goes paston: we go past / one goes past | |
| nous | repassons | we go past | |
| vous | repassez | you go past | |
| ils / elles | repassent | they go past |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul repasse devant la boulangerie.
Paul goes past the bakery again.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | suis repassé / suis repassée | I went past | |
| tu | es repassé / es repassée | you went past | |
| il / elle / on | est repassé / est repassée | he / she / it went paston: we went past / one went past | |
| nous | sommes repassés / sommes repassées | we went past | |
| vous | êtes repassé / êtes repassée / êtes repassés / êtes repassées | you went past | |
| ils / elles | sont repassés / sont repassées | they went past |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul est repassé devant la boulangerie.
Yesterday, Paul went past the bakery again.
The passé composé shown is the intransitive motion use with être. With a direct object, this verb can use avoir; check the meaning in context. With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repassais | I used to go past | |
| tu | repassais | you used to go past | |
| il / elle / on | repassait | he / she / it used to go paston: we used to go past / one used to go past | |
| nous | repassions | we used to go past | |
| vous | repassiez | you used to go past | |
| ils / elles | repassaient | they used to go past |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul repassait devant la boulangerie.
Back then, Paul used to go past the bakery again.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repasserai | I will go past | |
| tu | repasseras | you will go past | |
| il / elle / on | repassera | he / she / it will go paston: we will go past / one will go past | |
| nous | repasserons | we will go past | |
| vous | repasserez | you will go past | |
| ils / elles | repasseront | they will go past |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul repassera devant la boulangerie.
Later, Paul will go past the bakery again.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repasserais | I would go past | |
| tu | repasserais | you would go past | |
| il / elle / on | repasserait | he / she / it would go paston: we would go past / one would go past | |
| nous | repasserions | we would go past | |
| vous | repasseriez | you would go past | |
| ils / elles | repasseraient | they would go past |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul repasserait devant la boulangerie.
Paul would go past the bakery again.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | repasse | (that) I go past | |
| tu | repasses | (that) you go past | |
| il / elle / on | repasse | (that) he / she / it goes paston: (that) we go past / one goes past | |
| nous | repassions | (that) we go past | |
| vous | repassiez | (that) you go past | |
| ils / elles | repassent | (that) they go past |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul repasse devant la boulangerie.
It is possible that Paul goes past the bakery again.
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.”
This intransitive example means pass by again and uses the source paradigm with être in the passé composé.
Meaning & usage
- to pass by again (intransitive)
- to iron (to pass an iron over clothing)
- to pass by again
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