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 book.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réserve | I book | |
| tu | réserves | you book | |
| il / elle / on | réserve | he / she / it bookson: we book / one books | |
| nous | réservons | we book | |
| vous | réservez | you book | |
| ils / elles | réservent | they book |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul réserve une table au restaurant.
Paul books a table at the restaurant.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai réservé | I booked | |
| tu | as réservé | you booked | |
| il / elle / on | a réservé | he / she / it bookedon: we booked / one booked | |
| nous | avons réservé | we booked | |
| vous | avez réservé | you booked | |
| ils / elles | ont réservé | they booked |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a réservé une table au restaurant.
Yesterday, Paul booked a table at the restaurant.
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’ | réservais | I used to book | |
| tu | réservais | you used to book | |
| il / elle / on | réservait | he / she / it used to bookon: we used to book / one used to book | |
| nous | réservions | we used to book | |
| vous | réserviez | you used to book | |
| ils / elles | réservaient | they used to book |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul réservait une table au restaurant.
Back then, Paul used to book a table at the restaurant.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réserverai | I will book | |
| tu | réserveras | you will book | |
| il / elle / on | réservera | he / she / it will bookon: we will book / one will book | |
| nous | réserverons | we will book | |
| vous | réserverez | you will book | |
| ils / elles | réserveront | they will book |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul réservera une table au restaurant.
Later, Paul will book a table at the restaurant.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réserverais | I would book | |
| tu | réserverais | you would book | |
| il / elle / on | réserverait | he / she / it would bookon: we would book / one would book | |
| nous | réserverions | we would book | |
| vous | réserveriez | you would book | |
| ils / elles | réserveraient | they would book |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul réserverait une table au restaurant.
Paul would book a table at the restaurant.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | réserve | (that) I book | |
| tu | réserves | (that) you book | |
| il / elle / on | réserve | (that) he / she / it bookson: (that) we book / one books | |
| nous | réservions | (that) we book | |
| vous | réserviez | (that) you book | |
| ils / elles | réservent | (that) they book |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul réserve une table au restaurant.
It is possible that Paul books a table at the restaurant.
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 reserve, to make a reservation (for), to book
- to reserve, to put aside
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