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 answer.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réponds | I answer | |
| tu | réponds | you answer | |
| il / elle / on | répond | he / she / it answerson: we answer / one answers | |
| nous | répondons | we answer | |
| vous | répondez | you answer | |
| ils / elles | répondent | they answer |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul répond à la question.
Paul answers the question.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai répondu | I answered | |
| tu | as répondu | you answered | |
| il / elle / on | a répondu | he / she / it answeredon: we answered / one answered | |
| nous | avons répondu | we answered | |
| vous | avez répondu | you answered | |
| ils / elles | ont répondu | they answered |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a répondu à la question.
Yesterday, Paul answered the question.
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’ | répondais | I used to answer | |
| tu | répondais | you used to answer | |
| il / elle / on | répondait | he / she / it used to answeron: we used to answer / one used to answer | |
| nous | répondions | we used to answer | |
| vous | répondiez | you used to answer | |
| ils / elles | répondaient | they used to answer |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul répondait à la question.
Back then, Paul used to answer the question.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | répondrai | I will answer | |
| tu | répondras | you will answer | |
| il / elle / on | répondra | he / she / it will answeron: we will answer / one will answer | |
| nous | répondrons | we will answer | |
| vous | répondrez | you will answer | |
| ils / elles | répondront | they will answer |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul répondra à la question.
Later, Paul will answer the question.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | répondrais | I would answer | |
| tu | répondrais | you would answer | |
| il / elle / on | répondrait | he / she / it would answeron: we would answer / one would answer | |
| nous | répondrions | we would answer | |
| vous | répondriez | you would answer | |
| ils / elles | répondraient | they would answer |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul répondrait à la question.
Paul would answer the question.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réponde | (that) I answer | |
| tu | répondes | (that) you answer | |
| il / elle / on | réponde | (that) he / she / it answerson: (that) we answer / one answers | |
| nous | répondions | (that) we answer | |
| vous | répondiez | (that) you answer | |
| ils / elles | répondent | (that) they answer |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul réponde à la question.
It is possible that Paul answers the question.
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 reply, to answer
- to answer for
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