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 represent.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | représente | I represent | |
| tu | représentes | you represent | |
| il / elle / on | représente | he / she / it representson: we represent / one represents | |
| nous | représentons | we represent | |
| vous | représentez | you represent | |
| ils / elles | représentent | they represent |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul représente son équipe à la réunion.
Paul represents his team at the meeting.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai représenté | I represented | |
| tu | as représenté | you represented | |
| il / elle / on | a représenté | he / she / it representedon: we represented / one represented | |
| nous | avons représenté | we represented | |
| vous | avez représenté | you represented | |
| ils / elles | ont représenté | they represented |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a représenté son équipe à la réunion.
Yesterday, Paul represented his team at the meeting.
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’ | représentais | I used to represent | |
| tu | représentais | you used to represent | |
| il / elle / on | représentait | he / she / it used to representon: we used to represent / one used to represent | |
| nous | représentions | we used to represent | |
| vous | représentiez | you used to represent | |
| ils / elles | représentaient | they used to represent |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul représentait son équipe à la réunion.
Back then, Paul used to represent his team at the meeting.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | représenterai | I will represent | |
| tu | représenteras | you will represent | |
| il / elle / on | représentera | he / she / it will representon: we will represent / one will represent | |
| nous | représenterons | we will represent | |
| vous | représenterez | you will represent | |
| ils / elles | représenteront | they will represent |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul représentera son équipe à la réunion.
Later, Paul will represent his team at the meeting.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | représenterais | I would represent | |
| tu | représenterais | you would represent | |
| il / elle / on | représenterait | he / she / it would representon: we would represent / one would represent | |
| nous | représenterions | we would represent | |
| vous | représenteriez | you would represent | |
| ils / elles | représenteraient | they would represent |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul représenterait son équipe à la réunion.
Paul would represent his team at the meeting.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | représente | (that) I represent | |
| tu | représentes | (that) you represent | |
| il / elle / on | représente | (that) he / she / it representson: (that) we represent / one represents | |
| nous | représentions | (that) we represent | |
| vous | représentiez | (that) you represent | |
| ils / elles | représentent | (that) they represent |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul représente son équipe à la réunion.
It is possible that Paul represents his team at the meeting.
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 represent (to be the representative of)
- to represent (to show, as a replacement)
- to represent; to re-present; to present 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